ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Lecture-4
COVERAGE

Bioremediation

THERMAL POLLUTION

PLASTIC POLLUTION

Categorization of industrial sector

MCQs

BIOREMEDIATION
 Use of microorganisms to degrade environmental contaminants into less toxic forms.
 Process of bioremediation is monitored indirectly by measuring
Oxidation/Reduction Potential (redox) – It is Measure of tendency of a chemical to
acquire electrons and be reduced.
 Two types of strategies -
 1. In Situ bioremediation: Treatment of contaminated material at the site
 Bio-venting: Oxygen is supplied to contaminated soil to stimulate growth of
indigenous bacteria.
o Can be used where contamination is deep under the surface.
o It can degrade fuel residuals, VOCs etc.
 Bio-sparging: Injection of air under pressure below the water table to increase
groundwater oxygen and enhance naturally occurring bacteria.
 Bio-augmentation: Microorganisms are imported to a contaminate site.
2. Ex Situ bioremediation: Removal of contaminated material elsewhere.
 Land farming: Contaminated soil is excavated and spread over a prepared bed
and periodically tilled to provide aeration until pollutants degrade.
 Biopiles: landfarming + composting = Cells are constructed in which
contaminated soil is periodically tilled and kept.
o Heat plays an important role apart from aeration.
o Used to treat contamination with petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides
etc.
 Bioreactors: Processing of contaminated solid material or water through an
engineered containment system. Process can be aerobic or anaerobic.
 Phytoremediation: Use of plants to remove contaminants from soil and water.
o Phyto-extraction/ Phyto-accumulation: Plants accumulate contaminants
into the roots, shoots and leaves.
o Phyto-transformation: Uptake of organic contaminants and their
transformation to more stable, less toxic and less mobile form.
o Phyto-stabilization: Plants reduce mobility and migration of
contaminated soil.
o Phyto-degradation/ Rhizo-degradation: Breakdown of contaminants
through activities in the rhizosphere (due to presence of proteins and
enzymes produced by plants and soil organisms)
o Rhizo-filtration: Water remediation technique involving uptake of
contaminants by plant roots. Used in wetlands and estuary areas.
 Mycoremediation: Use of fungi for the same process
o Microfiltration: Use of fungal mycelia to filter toxic wastes and
microorganisms from water and soil.

Advantages -

 Complete destruction of several contaminants

 Less expensive
 Environment friendly

Disadvantages –
  Limited to biodegradable compounds.
 Difficult to extrapolate from pilot-scale studies to full-scale field operations.
 Takes longer time than other treatment processes.

DO YOU KNOW?
 Using bioremediation techniques, TERI has developed a mixture of bacteria called
‘Oilzapper and Oilivorous-S’ which degrade the pollutants of oil-contaminated sites,
leaving behind no harmful residues.
 This technique is not only environment friendly, but also highly cost-effective.

THERMAL POLLUTION
 Refers to rise or fall in temperature of a natural aquatic environment due to human
influence.
 This has become an increasing and the most current pollution type due to increasing
call of globalization everywhere.
 Thermal pollution is caused by -
o dumping hot water from factories and power plants.
o removing trees and vegetation that shade streams.
o permitting sunlight to raise the temperature of these waters.
o Thermal pollution is widespread and affects many lakes and vast numbers of
streams and rivers in various parts of the world.

Major sources

 power plants creating electricity from fossil fuel.

 water as a cooling agent in industrial facilities.
 deforestation of the shoreline.
 soil erosion.

Ecological Effects — Warm Water

 Warm water has lesser oxygen holding capacity – reduced DO levels.

 This also decreases decomposition rate of organic matter creating ecological
imbalance.
 Green algae is replaced by less desirable blue green algae.
 Also increases metabolic rate of aquatic animals thus resulting in consumption of
more food that may result in food shortages impacting population.
 Deterioration of environment triggers migration of organisms to and from it – fishes
that live in warm waters may invade environment.
 Migration increases competition for fewer resources having potential to radically
change entire biodiversity.
  Some physiological changes in organisms - Cell walls may become less permeable to
osmosis, coagulation of cell proteins and alteration of enzyme metabolism.
 Primary producers are affected by warm water because higher temperature
increases plant growth and can cause algal bloom that reduces oxygen levels in
water in long term
 Higher plant density reduces light penetrating to sea - it affects photosynthesis and
increases plant respiration rate.
 Can also lead to break down of hydrogen and disulphide bonds in enzymes – This
can lead to inability of organisms to break down lipids leading them to malnutrition.

Ecological Effects of Cold Water

 Releasing cold water from base of reservoirs also causes thermal pollution.
 Fishes and macro invertebrates are affected adversely.

Control Measures

 Power plants should pass heated water through cooling towers before discharging it
to streams.
 Cogeneration - Using excess heat energy from electricity generation in another
manufacturing process
 Waste hot water can be used for heating in residential areas near Industrial plants—
This is common in Scandinavian towns and cities and china is planning to use it too
 Counter deforestation along shorelines – Afforestation drives shall focus on such
areas
 All efforts to control soil erosion also have effect of keeping water clearer and, thus,
cooler.

PLASTIC POLLUTION
 Of nearly 1.5 million species known, about a quarter million live in world’s oceans.
 Nearly 50% of the global primary production takes place in the upper stratum of
sea water.
 Seafood represents 20% of the protein in global diet.
 Health of marine food web and fisheries resources depends upon long-term viability
of autotrophic algae (phytoplankton – primary producer) and zooplanktons
(primary consumers).
 Plastics represent latest contaminant in marine environment.
 Plastics pollution can interfere with plankton species that form the foundation of
marine food web thus adversely affecting delicate balance in the marine ecosystem.
Plastics as a Waste Material- in Marine Environment.

 Plastic waste results primarily from fishing related activities and from non-point
source influx from beaches.
 Two clear differences between plastics debris in ocean and land.

a) Rate of UV-induced photo-oxidative degradation of plastics in sea is much slower

than on land.

b)retrieval, sorting and recycling of plastic waste in oceans is not easy like on land

o These factors result in extended life for plastics at sea.

o The plastic waste in oceans is mostly intact and unmineralized.
o Some also disintegrate into microparticulate debris.
o New reports show increasing counts over last two decades.

Impact of Micro particles

 Threat to zooplanktons and Antarctic krill with plastics < 20 microns

 Plastics are bio-inert and are not toxic in conventional sense.
 Obstruction with physiology is always possible – Like sea birds showing satiation on
ingesting plastics
 But, plastics tend to concentrate toxic organic compounds.
 These include PCBs, DDT, and nonylphenols.
 Plastic-related distress to over 250 species – documented worldwide.
 Negatively buoyant plastic waste like nylon net fragments has adversely impacted
benthic species – No policy focus on this.

CATEGORISATION OF INDUSTRIAL SECTOR

 Ministry of Environment has categorized industries - Red, Orange, Green and White
based on Pollution Index (PI).
 The Pollution Index is a function of emissions, effluents and hazardous wastes
released by consumption of resources.
 PI is a number from 0 to 100 and increasing value of PI denotes increasing degree
of pollution load from industrial sector.
 White industries are practically non-polluting so will not require environmental
clearance and consent. Includes 36 sectors.
 No red category industries (60 sectors) shall normally be permitted in ecologically
fragile/ protected areas.