Cuban biotechnology center applies microorganisms to recover contaminated ecosystems

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba, Jan 22 (ACN) The Center for Industrial Biotechnology (Cebi), applies techniques with microorganisms for the recovery of ecosystems damaged by human industrial activity, taking into account the negative impact on food security of soil and water contamination by persistent organic compounds and heavy metals.

Odalys Rodriguez Gamez, Cebi researcher, explained to the Cuban News Agency how they use the natural potentialities to decontaminate soils and water from oil, diesel, pesticides and heavy metals, by means of environmental autochthonous bacteria that have the capacity to degrade the pollutants existing in the environment.

Among the main results of the project, the specialist mentioned the isolation of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa ORA9, producer of a biosurfactant that allowed reducing up to 75% of hydrocarbons in soils and more than 50% of lead, copper and nickel in the waters of Santiago de Cuba.

She pointed out that Cuba does not produce biosurfactants (water-soluble molecules) because of their high costs, thus the proposal for the possible production of this compound on a pilot scale using used edible oils, which are sometimes spilled into the sewage system and also cause pollution of the bay where wastewater generally reaches.

Furthermore, with the use of hydrocarbon degrading microbes and an experimental open reactor system (microcosms), we were able to eliminate 84 % of this substance, the expert added.

Likewise, the application of rhizospheric bacteria, which grow in the roots of plants, made it possible to remove 72 % of the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, used to combat weeds that affect crops.
At the laboratory level, we designed an aerobic bioreactor device with which 60% of diesel was separated from sea water, as well as the implementation of an aerobic-anaerobic reactor system for the removal of 84% of hydrocarbons and the simultaneous elimination of copper, manganese and zinc from combined waters, Rodriguez Gamez concluded.

Located at the University of Oriente (eastern Cuba), Cebi leads the generation of technology with industrial and environmental applications in the country, with a rational and efficient use of financial resources since its creation on November 2, 1992.