Prospects for Combined Applications of Nanostructured Catalysts and Biocatalysts for Elimination of Hydrocarbon Pollutants

Abstract

Due to the presence of environmental problems, it is urgent to improve the processes aimed at the processing and purification of hydrocarbon-containing wastes and wastewaters. The review presents the latest achievements in the development of nanostructured catalysts made from different materials that can be used to purify oil-polluted wastewaters (petroleum refinery wastewater, oilfield-produced water, sulfur-containing extracts from pre-oxidized crude oil and oil fractions, etc.) and eliminate components of hydrocarbon pollutants (polyaromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, etc.). The results of the analysis of possible combinations of chemical and biological catalysts for deeper and more effective solutions to the problems are discussed. The possibilities of highly efficient elimination of hydrocarbon pollutants as a result of the hybrid application of nanoparticles (graphene oxide, mesoporous silica, magnetic nanocatalysts, etc.) or catalytic nanocomposites for advanced oxidation processes and biocatalysts (enzymes, cells of bacteria, mycelial fungi, phototrophic microorganisms and natural or artificial microbial consortia) are analyzed.

Using Fungi in Artificial Microbial Consortia to Solve Bioremediation Problems

“…Bioremediation processes are becoming increasingly important, both from the point of view of developing the scientific basis for their implementation, and the point of view of their practical application [ 1 ]. Soil and water ecosystems contaminated with oil and petroleum products [ 2 ], heavy metals [ 3 ], polycyclic aromatic compounds [ 4 ], and pesticides [ 5 ] have been mainly referenced in discussions of the objects of bioremediation. Now these pollutants [ 6 ] and microplastics [ 7 ] have been joined by pharmaceutical agents.…”

Application of the Hybrid Chemical-Biocatalytic Approach for Conversion of Nitrocellulose-Containing Sewage Sludge

“…Combining physicochemical and biological approaches to waste treatment can be either sequential or simultaneous so that, in the latter case, both processes are going on in parallel in the same reactor [7,8]. Waste treatment in a single reactor involving different techniques can reduce the overall treatment time by obviating the necessity of transition from one stage to another.…”

“…However, such processes are difficult to implement since chemical agents can be toxic to the biocatalysts. The known successful examples of realizing such processes are mostly connected with combining biocatalysts with nanoparticles and nanomaterials [8][9][10]. Introducing Cu@Fe 3 O 4 or TiO 2 @Ag nanoparticles into a reactor containing anaerobic sludge ensured a decrease in hydrogen sulfide content in the produced biogas and an increase in methane production efficiency [9,10].…”