How Is Biotechnology Related to Going Green?

Biotechnology is used in all sorts of products.

Environmental biotechnology refers to biotechnology used to remediate contaminated environments and improve environment-friendly processes, according to the United Nations University's Institute for Advanced Studies. Green biotechnology is related to the use of biotechnology for agricultural purposes. Biotechnology is the science of exploiting biological processes for industrial and other purposes. Biotechnology includes the genetic manipulation microorganisms.

Bioremediation

Biotechnology could be used to clean up contamination around this well.

Bioremediation probably first grabbed the U.S. public's attention when microbes were used to aid cleanup after the disastrous Exxon Valdez Oil spill in 1989. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), "with advances in biotechnology, bioremediation has become one of the most rapidly developing fields of environmental restoration."

The institute says certain microorganisms are able to reduce chemical pollutants, their toxicity and concentration. Biotech microorganisms can help treat pollutants such as industrial solvents, metals, pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, phthalate esters, nitroaromatic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, NIH says.

Algal Biofuels

Algae can be manipulated through biotechnology to provide a fuel source.

Biotech research into algae has found that it can be used to produce fuels. Certain algae in a high carbon dioxide environment will produce a viable fuel similar to diesel. The fuel can be processed into ethanol or green gasoline. Also, algal fuel factories can absorb waste carbon dioxide emissions from coal power plants or other polluting entities.

Some big players in the petroleum industry, including Chevron and Shell, are looking to this technology to provide the next generation of environmentally friendly fuels.

Nuclear Cleanup

Microbes can fix uranium waste, keeping it from moving within soil.

One of the least expensive ways so far to clean up nuclear waste is by using biotechnology and certain microbes to fix nuclear waste in soil for potential clean up, according to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Plastics

Bioplastics are becoming commonplace in disposable utensils and food containers at restaurants.

Bioplastics are made by plant extracts. Cargill-Dow Chemical Co. makes its bioplastic, Inego, from lactic acid that comes from non-transgenic maize starch glucose. It then polymerizes the acid, through traditional techniques, which becomes a poly-lactic acid. That's just one example of how biotechnology is being used to develop new plastics. You can find these plastics in the cups, utensils and containers being used by companies like Chipotle, Whole Foods and more. And Sun Chips, a Frito Lay brand, began using a totally degradable bioplastic bag in 2010.

Chemistry

Microbes and bacteria can be manipulated with biotechnology, making them produce novel compounds more efficiently than through chemical mixing. Hence biotechnology helps produce the chemicals in cleaning products and medications without producing harmful or wasteful chemical byproducts.

References

• UNU-IAS Report: "Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology"
• Pub Med: "Biotechnology and bioremediation: Successes and limitations;" 2002
• Earth 2 Tech: "15 Algae Startups Bringing Pond Scum to Fuel Tanks;" Katie Fehrenbacher; March 2008
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: "Happy Hour for Microbes"