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Bioengineering Solutions for Microplastic Pollution
Summary
This review evaluates bioengineering approaches to remove microplastics from the environment, including using microorganisms, plants, and engineered biological systems to break down or sequester plastic particles. While current biological methods are promising, the review identifies key limitations — including the challenge of targeting very small particles — that must be overcome for practical environmental cleanup.
Microplastic (MP) is an alarming challenge globally to the modern world due to its potential adverse effects on abiotic and biotic components of the ecosystem. Removing larger fractions of plastics from the ecosystem is easier, whereas removing the small-sized MPs is daunting. Current techniques such as filtration or chemical treatment are employed to remove MPs, either retaining MPs or requiring the application of harsh chemicals. Consequently, these treatments are not rendered useful for MP remediation from an environmental perspective. Thus, it becomes quite imperative for biological treatment to be used for MPs’ removal from the environment. This chapter aims to provide details on MPs’ biodegradation and discusses the related mechanism of degradation. Various biological approaches can remove MPs from the environment by biodegradation and bioaccumulation. These approaches include computational biology advances such as bio-augmentation, bio-stimulation, and enzymatic degradation. Recent studies have shown that fungi, bacteria, and algae can be used for MP biodegradation, and enhanced degradation of MPs can be achieved by the application of bioinformatics and gene editing tools. This chapter will provide an overview of recent research and knowledge related to microbial degradation of MPs in the environment, offering insights into the prospective biological solutions for effective MP remediation.