1 / 18

Environmental Biotechnology

Environmental Biotechnology. Introduction. Environmental biotechnology is the solving of environmental problems through the application of biotechnology. Why environmental biotechnology?. It is needed to: eliminate the hazardous wastes produced by our other technologies.

mercury
Télécharger la présentation

Environmental Biotechnology

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Environmental Biotechnology

  2. Introduction • Environmental biotechnology is the solving of environmental problems through the application of biotechnology.

  3. Why environmental biotechnology? • It is needed to: • eliminate the hazardous wastes produced by our other technologies. • distinguish between similar species and ensure species are not at risk of extinction. • create alternative energy sources (i.e. Biofuel).

  4. Current Areas of Research

  5. 1) Molecular Ecology • Using biological techniques (i.e. DNA fingerprinting) to better understand aspects of nature. • This is done to look at the biodiversity of different populations to ensure they are not at risk of going extinct (cheetahs and polar bears currently). • It can be used to determine if a new species has emerged and also better map the evolutionary development of different families of animals (horses and whales currently).

  6. 1) Molecular Ecology Biofuel exaggeration Reading a DNA fingerprint

  7. 2) Bioremediation • Bioremediation is the use of bacteria (or fungi) to clean up hazardous environmental wastes. • The bacteria essentially turn the dangerous waste products into less hazardous, easy to dispose of, waste. • Plants are also being tested in some areas to do this job (Sunflowers at Chernobyl removed Cesium and Strontium).

  8. 2) Bioremediation • Bioremediation has been used to clean remains from military sties and in the arctic and has been used to clean up after oil spills off of Alaska. • Currently, this science can “engineer” bacteria to break down hazardous waste right at the workplace to avoid transport and storage.

  9. 3) Biosensors • A biosensor uses a biological entity (i.e. bacteria) to monitor levels of certain chemicals OR uses chemicals to monitor levels of certain biological entities (i.e. pathogens).

  10. 3) Biosensors • Current uses of biosensors include: • Detecting levels of toxins in an ecosystem • Detecting airborne pathogens (i.e. anthrax) • Monitoring blood glucose levels

  11. 4) Biofuels • A biofuel is a plant derived fuel that is deemed more environmentally friendly that current fuel sources as they all release less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. • Ethanol from corn is placed in many gasoline varieties in North America. • Biodiesel is fuel made from used cooking oil. • Biogas is made from gases released by compost or a landfill.

  12. 4) Biofuels • The current project of many biofuel scientists is aptly nicknamed “A Journey to Forever”, creating a self-sustaining biofuel cell that gives off no greenhouse gas emissions. • Many different bacterial strains can produce lots of hydrogen under anaerobic conditions. • This hydrogen can be used as a fuel source with the only waste product being oxidized hydrogen… water. • This technology has not been perfected yet.

More Related