Biodegradation, What is it, and how do we use it?

Biodegradation is the chemical dissolution of materials by bacteria or other biological means. Although often conflated, biodegradable is distinct in meaning fromcompostable. While biodegradable simply means to be consumed by microorganisms and return to compounds found in nature, "compostable" makes the specific demand that the object break down in a compost pile. The term is often used in relation to ecology, waste management, biomedicine, and the natural environment (bioremediation) and is now commonly associated with environmentally friendly products that are capable of decomposing back into natural elements. Organic material can be degraded aerobically with oxygen, or anaerobically, without oxygen.Biosurfactant, an extracellular surfactant secreted by microorganisms, enhances the biodegradation process.

Biodegradable matter is generally organic material such as plant and animal matter and other substances originating from living organisms, or artificial materials that are similar enough to plant and animal matter to be put to use by microorganisms.

Biodegradable plastic: What you need to know

Biodegradable plastic has been touted as an eco-friendly solution, but does it live up to its reputation?

Over 31 million tons of plastic waste is produced each year, of which just 8% is recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Biodegradable plastic made from materials ranging from bacteria to orange peels has been touted as a solution to the global plastic-waste problem and a way to lessen our impact on the environment. However, a closer examination reveals that biodegradable plastic may not live up to its eco-friendly image.

 

Biodegradable plastic was once a classic greenwashing scheme that often tricked consumers into purchasing products that were not, in fact, biodegradable. However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has cracked down on these dubious claims and now defines what can and cannot be marketed as biodegradable plastic.

 

To qualify as biodegradable, a material must be scientifically proven to break down completely and return to nature within a short time, the FTC says. Don’t be fooled, though: Not all biodegradable plastic is made from bio-based products like plants and food waste; some is derived from synthetic polyesters and other non-bio-based feedstock.

 

Is it really eco-friendly?

But even plastic certified as biodegradable may not be as environmentally friendly as it appears. In fact, according to a recent study released by Germany’s Federal Environment Agency, biodegradable plastic offers almost no environmental advantage over traditional plastic.

 

Why? Unless plastic is composted or recycled, it ends up in landfills, which are designed to be kept dry and air-tight conditions that actually inhibit biodegradation. According to the Canada-based Environment and Plastics Industry Council (EPIC), even though more than two-thirds of the garbage that goes into landfills may be purported to be biodegradable, little change occurs once it gets there.

 

“Nothing has as popular an image as biodegradability in landfills unfortunately, though, it just doesn’t happen,” says Dr. William Rathje, an archaeologist at the University of Arizona and author of the book “Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage.”

 

According to Rathje, if plastic were able to degrade in landfills, the environmental impact would be even worse. When biodegradable plastic breaks down in landfills, he explains in his book, it releases two greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, exacerbating climate change. Moreover, it could contribute to unstable sub-soil conditions and storm-water pollution.

 

There are also concerns about how biodegradable plastic is produced. For instance, much of the feedstock used to create biodegradable plastic comes from corn and other plants that have been treated with fertilizers and/or been genetically modified, the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative notes.

 

What you can do

If biodegradable plastic is not really degradable after all, then what can you do to reduce your plastic footprint? The good news is that biodegradable plastic will degrade if composted properly. The Biodegradable Products Institute maintains a list of productsthat have been independently verified as compostable.

 

If composting is not your thing, recycling and reusing are also generally sustainable options. Another good practice is to reduce your plastic use overall, the EPIC recommends. Less plastic is better than biodegradable plastic, so make smart decisions.

Biofuels!!!! A new controversy.

What are Biofuels?

Biofuels are liquid fuels which have been derived from other materials such as waste plant and animal matter. There are two main types of biofuels – bioethanol and biodiesel. Bioethanol is used as a replacement for gasoline and biodiesel is used as a replacement for diesel. Biofuels represent an immense growth area around the world and have an important role to play in displacing the types of fuels the world has used in the past. Why have Biofuels? Biofuels are important for a number of reasons. Transport is dependent on finite fossil fuels such as oil and petroleum for its energy needs so it is important that we move towards more renewable and sustainable fuels. Added to this, transport is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases and biofuels can significantly reduce transport’s carbon footprint. Finally, it is important that Australia have domestic energy security. Australia currently imports half of its liquid fuel needs and that figure is rising. It is crucial that we have our own energy supplies so that we are not dependent upon the supply and pricing dictated by world markets. What is Peak Oil? Peak oil is the point in time at which oil production reaches its maximum annual rate after which time the annual production rate will start declining. Oil and its derivative products are a finite fossil fuel and eventually we will come to a point in time when total world oil production will have been reached. -Currently biofuel is produced from plants as well as microbes. The oils, carbohydrates or fats  generated by the microbes or plants are refined to produce biofuel. This is a green and renewable  energy that helps in conserving fossil-fuel usage. But a new research has led to a new discovery  of getting the microbes to produce fuel from the proteins instead of utilizing the protein for its own growth.  The research is being done at the premises of University of California in Los Angeles.

Focus
The focus of the experiment was to induce the microbes under the study to produce a specific kind of proteins rather than what they otherwise might be inclined to produce. This special protein can be refined in to biofuel. The task is to make the microbes produce only this kind of protein rather than utilizing it for their own growth and growth related activities as they otherwise do.

Different from prior practice
This kind of biofuel production is different from the traditional behavior of microbes where they use the protein only for growth. This is like tricking the microbes to deviate from that and produce fats or material that can be converted to biofuel. In the words of UCLA postdoctoral student and lead researcher, Yi-xin Huo -”We have to completely redirect the protein utilization system, which is one of the most highly-regulated systems in the cell.”

First attempt at protein utilization
This has been claimed as the first ever attempt to use the proteins as a source for generating energy. Until now the biofuel-producing algae has not made use of the protein like a carbon supply for biofuel. It was only used for growth. But now the scientists have tampered with usual nitrogen metabolism process and induced biorefining process and altered the metabolizing of nitrogen at the cellular level.

A fringe benefit
By this process, they are letting the cells to retain the nitrogen and take out just the ammonia. Once done with the biofuel production, the residue is a better kind of fertilizer thanks to the low nitrogen levels. This in turn will lessen any greenhouse emissions that happen during the fertilizer production. The new process will reprocess the nitrogen back and will help in maintaining a nitrogen neutral state and less harmful emissions during fertilizer production.

Future plans
The Nature Biotechnology Sunday issue has published the team’s findings. The team hopes that their findings will rewrite biofuel production by inundating the field with protein eating microbes which will generate fats and substances that can be converted into biofuel. The microbes will feed on proteins that are not fit for animal consumption and keep producing special proteins for biofuel conversion and later can become a better type if fertilizer with less nitrogen and nil harmful greenhouse emissions.

alternativeenergy.com