Novel bioremediation methodology for utilisation of biomedical waste ash

By Arpit Kumar Pradhan, Rudrarup Bose

biomedical waste nanoparticles heavy metals bioremediation synthetic biology

Biomedical waste (BMW) ash, generated from incineration of BMW, consists of several heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which can cause severe damage to the environment by seeping into the ground and by polluting the surface and groundwater.
Previously reported bioremediation technique combined with synthetic biology can lead to a novel methodology to reduce the toxicity of the BMW ash before disposing into the environment. Several bacterial species such as Bacillus sp. KGMDI have been shown to tolerate upto 75mg/l of heavy metal such as manganese, molybdenum, iron, chromium, copper. Reduction of toxicity, by treatment with bacteria, has also been reported earlier, indicating uptake of toxic heavy metals. Here, we propose to engineer the bacterium’s metabolic pathway to utilise such heavy metals in a constructive manner. The chemistry space based on the diversity of PAHs seems fascinating and allow scope for the synthesis of compounds of social interest. These bacterial species can further be configured for differential higher uptake of heavy metals, such as iron, from the BMW ash by modifying their biochemical pathways and can be utilised to synthesize nanoparticles. Hence, it is possible to synthesize iron nanoparticles which have clinical and laboratory applications, thus incurring immense societal benefits.

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