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0 Biology Investigatory Project 3 PDF
0 Biology Investigatory Project 3 PDF
Submitted To,
Rajeswari Teacher
Submitted By,
Saji V Shajan
Std.XII B
Roll no.12
Contents
S.No.
Topic
Page No.
Acknowledgment
Introduction
Uses in Food
3-7
7-9
Uses in Energy
9-11
Production of Chemicals
12-14
Importance in ecology
15
Conclusion
16
Bibliography
17
Acknowledgement
I would like to convey our sincere
gratitude to our Biology teacher for
letting us to do this project. I would
like to thank my friends for helping me
in this project and a special thanks to
Mrs. Rajeswari Miss (Biology teacher)
for guiding throughout the project. I
sincerely have worked hard to
complete this project. I tried to make
this project as Good as possible. Last
but not least I would like to thank my
classmate and parents for their
valuable suggestion about this project.
Introduction
A microorganism is a microscopic living organism, which may be
single celled or multicellular. Microorganism was discovered in 1674
by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, using a microscope of his own design.
They are very diverse and include all the Bacteria and archaea and
almost all the protozoa. They also include some fungi, algae, and
certain animals, such as rotifers.
Microbes are present everywhere in soil, water, air, inside our
bodies and that of other animals and plants and even in Hot springs
and Oceans. Some are even observed in vacuum under certain test
conditions.
Microorganisms are crucial to nutrient recycling in ecosystems as
they act as decomposers. As some microorganisms can fix nitrogen,
they are a vital part of the nitrogen cycle. Microorganisms are also
exploited in biotechnology, both in traditional food and beverage
preparation, and in modern technologies based on genetic
engineering.
Microbes are vital to humans and the environment as they participate
in the carbon and nitrogen cycle as well as fulfilling other vital role in
virtually all ecosystem such as recycling other organisms dead
remains and waste products through decomposition.
Uses in Food
Microorganisms are used in brewing, wine making, baking, pickling
and other food-making processes. They are also used to control the
fermentation process in the production of cultured dairy products such
as yogurt and cheese. The cultures also provide flavour and aroma,
and inhibit undesirable organisms.
Primary treatment
In the primary sedimentation stage, sewage flows through large tanks,
commonly called pre-settling basins, primary sedimentation tanks
or primary clarifiers". The tanks are used to settle sludge while
grease and oils rise to the surface and are skimmed off. Primary
settling tanks are usually equipped with mechanically driven scrapers
that continually drive the collected sludge towards a hopper in the
base of the tank where it is pumped to sludge treatment facilities.
7
Lactobacillus Bacteria
Water Treatment
Grease and oil from the floating material can sometimes be recovered
for saponification (soap making).
Secondary Treatment
Secondary treatment is designed to substantially degrade the
biological content of the sewage which are derived from human
waste, food waste, soaps and detergent. The majority of municipal
plants treat the settled sewage liquor using aerobic biological
processes. To be effective, the biota requires both oxygen and food to
live. The bacteria and protozoa consume biodegradable soluble
organic contaminants (e.g. sugars, fats, organic short-chain carbon
molecules, etc.) and bind much of the less soluble fractions into floc.
Secondary treatment systems are classified as fixed-film or
suspended-growth systems.
Tertiary Treatment
The purpose of tertiary treatment is to provide a final treatment stage
to further improve the effluent quality before it is discharged to the
receiving environment (sea, river, lake, wet lands, ground, etc.). More
than one tertiary treatment process may be used at any treatment
plant. If disinfection is practised, it is always the final process. It is
also called effluent polishing.
Uses in Energy
Microorganisms are used in fermentation to produce ethanol, and in
biogas reactors to produce methane. Scientist are researching the use
of algae to produce liquid fuels and bacteria to convert various form
of agricultural and urban waste into usable fuels
Algae Fuel
Algae fuel or algal bio fuel is an alternative to liquid fossil fuels that
uses algae as its source of energy-rich oils. Several companies and
9
Cellulosic ethanol
Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or the
non-edible parts of plants. It is a type of biofuel produced from
lignocellulose, a structural material that comprises much of the mass
of plants. Lignocellulose is composed mainly of cellulose,
hemicellulose and lignin. Corn stover, switchgrass, miscanthus,
woodchips and the by products of lawn and tree maintenance are
some of the more popular cellulosic materials for ethanol production.
Production of ethanol from lignocellulose has the advantage of
abundant and diverse raw material compared to sources like corn and
cane sugars, but requires a greater amount of processing to make the
sugar monomers available to the microorganisms that are typically
used to produce ethanol by fermentation.The main advantage
of Cellulosic ethanol is that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions
(GHG) by 85% over reformulated gasoline.
Biogas
Biogas, naturally occurring gas that is generated by the breakdown of
organic matter by anaerobic bacteria and is used in energy production.
Biogas is primarily composed of methane gas, carbon dioxide, and
trace amounts of nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide. Biogas
differs from natural gas in that it is a renewable energy source
produced biologically through anaerobic digestion rather than a fossil
10
11
Acetobacter aceti
Clostridium butyricum
Aspergillus niger
Penicillium notatum
Monascus purpureus
14
Importance in Ecology
One of the most important roles of microbes is breaking up the
complex substances in decaying plants and animals so that they can
be used again by living plants. This involves microbes as catalysts in
a number of natural cycles, among the most prominent being the
nitrogen, and sulfur cycles.
Proteins are the basic stuff of organic tissues, and nitrogen is an
essential element of all proteins. The availability of nitrogen in forms
that plants can use is a basic determinant of the fertility of soils; the
role of microbes in facilitating the nitrogen cycle is therefore of great
importance. When a plant or animal dies, microbes break up the
complex proteins, polypeptides, and nucleic acids in their bodies and
produce ammonium, ions, nitrates, and nitrites that plants then use to
build their body tissues.
Both bacteria and blue-green algae can fix nitrogen directly from the
atmosphere, but this is less vital to plant development than the
symbiotic relationship between the bacteria genus Rhizobium and
leguminous plants and certain trees and shrubs. In return for
secretions from their host that encourage their growth and
multiplication, Rhizobia fix nitrogen in nodules of the host plants
roots, providing nitrogen in a form usable by the plant.
Microbes also participate in the sulfur cycle, mostly by breaking up
the naturally abundant sulfur compounds in the soil so that this vital
element is available to plants. Sulfur cycle, is the circulation of sulfur
in various forms through nature. Sulfur occurs in all living matter as a
component of certain amino acids. It is abundant in the soil
in proteins and, through a series of microbial transformations, ends up
as sulfates usable by plants.
Sulfur-containing proteins are degraded into their constituent amino
acids by the action of a variety of soil organisms. The sulfur of the
amino acids is converted to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) by another series
of soil microbes. In the presence of oxygen, H2S is converted to sulfur
and then to sulfate by sulfur bacteria. Eventually the sulfate becomes
H2S.
15
Conclusion
Microbes are a very important component of life on earth. Not all
microbes are pathogenic. Many microbes are very useful to human
beings. We use microbes and microbially derived products almost
every day. Microbes are essential in processes like Wine making and
Cheese making. Bacteria called lactic acid bacteria (LAB) grow in
milk to convert it into curd. The dough, which is used to make bread,
is fermented by yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Certain dishes
such as idli and dosa, are made from dough fermented by microbes.
Bacteria and fungi are used to impart particular texture, taste and
flavour to cheese. Many microbes are used for commercial and
industrial production of chemicals, enzymes and other bioactive
molecules .Antibiotics like penicillins produced by useful microbes
are used to kill disease-causing harmful microbes. For more than a
hundred years, microbes are being used to treat sewage (waste water)
by the process of activated sludge formation and this helps in
recycling of water in nature. Microorganisms are used in fermentation
to produce ethanol, and in biogas reactors to produce methane
Methanogens produce methane (biogas) while degrading plant waste.
Biogas produced by microbes is used as a source of energy in rural
areas. It is clear from the diverse uses human beings have put
microbes to that they play an important role in the welfare of human
society.
16
Bibliography
Referred Books:
Biological Science: Third Edition
By, N. P. O. Green (Author), G. W. Stout (Author),
D. J. Taylor (Author), R. Soper (Editor)
Exploring Biology
By, Ella Thea Smith
17