bioremediation and biofilms

Links:Princeton Bioremediation

Bioremediation in Alaska

Bioremediation and Biofilms

The plaque on your teeth are part of a biofilmBiofilms:A biofilm is composed of living, reproducing

microorganisms, such as bacteria, that exist as a colony, or community.

How does this photo relate to pollution cleanup?

What are Biofilms: microorganisms living on

surfacesNatural

Industrial Dental / medical

Biofilms Have Been Around for a Long Time

Biofilm formation in “living fossils”

Microorganisms adhere to the surface of some object in a moist environment and begin to reproduce. 

The microorganisms form an attachment to the surface of the object by secreting a slimy, glue-like substance. 

How do Biofilms Form?

Biofilms can form on just about any imaginable surface: 

metals plasticsnatural materials (such as rocks), medical implantskitchen counterscontact lensesthe walls of a hot tub or swimming pool Wherever the combination of moisture,

nutrients, and a surface exists, biofilms will likely be found as well.

Where can biofilms form?

Every year thousands of infections are associated with biofilms forming on artificial joint replacements and other foreign objects entering into the body.

Medical Problems with Biofilms

Elbow Revision Surgery

Biofilms Associated with Foreign Materials

Case Study Series 12 Gastric Bypass patients– Biofilms Associated with Sutures and Mesh

Abdominal muscles

Subcutaneous fat

Skin

Load bearing non-dissolvable braided suture

Closing after Gastric Bypass

Dissolvable sutures

Mesh

When surgical pins are removed from a patient they can be analyzed to reveal biofilm formations

Infected Brain Shunt:

Under an electron microscope biofilm formation is visable.

Bioremediation:Any process that uses microorganisms or their enzymes to return the environment altered by contaminants to its original condition.

What are some positive uses of biofilms?

Alaskan Oil Spill after the Exxon Valdez Crash in 1989

Works in difficult locations that cannot be reached by other techniques.

Gasoline leaking out of tanks into the ground water

Inject the bacteria into the site and provide an oxygen producing compound.

Cheaper and easier than excavation and pumping/treatment of the contaminated water.

Advantages of Bioremediation:

Bacteria are already present in the soil or aquifer, and bioremediation takes place naturally.

In some cases, the rate of bioremediation is too slow to effectively clean up a plume of contaminated water before it gets to a spring, well, lake, or stream.

The rate of bioremediation can be enhanced by adding fertilizer to make the bacteria grow more rapidly.

BIOREMEDIATION SUCCESS STORIES

How does Bioremediation Work?

Oil spillsThe bacteria are treated with fertilizers to increase the breakdown of the oil contaminants.

Chlorinated Pesticides

LINKS TO BIOREMEDIATION

What types of contaminants can be cleaned through bioremediation?

The Monongahela River Spill: About a million gallons of oil accidentally spilled into the Monongahela River in Western Pennsylvania when an above-ground oil storage tank collapsed January 2, 1988. In a matter of seconds, a 30 foot wave of heavy oil surged over containment barriers and spilled into the river, threatening the water supplies of more than a million people living downriver. Swift action was necessary to safeguard these water supplies. Thousands of feet of booms were used to contain the oil as workers pumped it into barges and tanker trucks. Even with this massive cleanup effort, eight water suppliers in three states were forced to shut their intake for a few days.

LIST OF OIL SPILLS WORLDWIDE