New materials and ecology: Biocomposites for aquatic remediation

Polymeric Materials Used for Immobilisation of Bacteria for the Bioremediation of Contaminants in Water

“…Microorganisms in a biofilm form are robust and usually show tolerance to toxic ions that might be present in the contaminated water due to cells incorporated in the biofilm matrix, which acts as a physical barrier. These advantages make biofilm attractive viable catalysts for organic syntheses, which may find wide technological applications [7]. In Figure 1c, macroporous hydrogel formation takes place via direct covalent linkage of bacteria cells' membranes' into 3D biofilm(advantages: one step, rapid biofilm formation due to cryoconcentration phenomenon leading to generation of high cells density with respect to polymer weight) [23,28,29].…”

“…A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a closed fuel cell system composed of an anode and cathode, where bacterial cell-mediated electron transfer takes place from the oxidation of an electron donor compound and reduction of electron acceptor functionality. The main application of MFC is to treat wastes for electricity generation [7]. A microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) is a bioelectrochemical system containing an anode and cathode, where anodic microorganisms oxidise organic derivative and the resulting protons are reduced to hydrogen atoms, forming gaseous hydrogen molecules.…”

“…A microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) is a bioelectrochemical system containing an anode and cathode, where anodic microorganisms oxidise organic derivative and the resulting protons are reduced to hydrogen atoms, forming gaseous hydrogen molecules. The reaction on the cathode electrode may also result in the formation of methane, which depends on immobilised bacteria [7].…”

“…cryogels in a static mode within 70, 145, and 170 h, respectively [29]. For comparison, more sophisticated systems used two-chamber Microbial fuel cell and open-cell bioelectrochemical systems utilising phenol 63.6 and 67 mg/(L-day), respectively [7]. The PVA-PEI cross-linker combinations exhibited good stability and viability and had the ability torecycle for at least five weeks in a carbonate buffer, utilising the contaminant as the only source of carbon.…”

Scaling sorbent materials for real oil-sorbing applications and environmental disasters

“…Sorbents offer the advantage of containing these compounds and preventing them from dispersing into ecosystems, whereas surfactants dissolve the crude oil into the natural habitats and ecosystems where spills take place, makes it nearly impossible to eliminate the undesired compounds and limit longterm ecological damage. 21 Sorbents also have the attractive feature of allowing both containment and possible separation of the target material, meaning that some portion of the oil can still be used once it is no longer endangering wildlife. Each of the described sorbents were designed to sorb nonpolar solutions, a property termed "oleophilicity" to describe materials with an attraction to nonpolar oils, and so typically contain internal pore surfaces with nonpolar molecular and bulk properties.…”