Bioremediation of pharmaceuticals using alginate immobilized microorganisms

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals wastes and their ways of disposal are an alarming problem nowadays and it is earning more awareness and realization from consumers and also professionals of healthcare. The acceleration in pollution in the environment coupled with the increase of wastes entering the eco-system has attracted the interest of researchers to focus on finding a way to remove these wastes in the most proper manner. Phenolic waste compounds mainly found in water and soil due to pollution from several industries such as petroleum, pesticides, plastic and pharmaceutical industries. phenolic compounds are harmful to human health and causes many health problems with the evolution of this problem Bioremediation arise because in nature everything is a food for something else, in bioremediation process the living organism is used in contaminated soil, water and air to thrive on the wastes in the contaminated area and convert the wastes from toxic form to another or completely degrading it. Bioremediation has many techniques as in situ or exsitu techniques on the basis of the pollutants and the type of used technique. Immobilization is preventing the free movement of enzymes or cells by using a supporter. Using immobilized enzymes or cells is preferred than using the soluble enzyme because immobilization techniques have many advantages. The most common method used is entrapment because of its easy, inexpensive and the polymer formed can be easily divided into particles with the desired size. Alginate is the supporter matrix as it natural, inert and stable.the objective is toexamine the bioremediation activity of some pharmaceutical compounds using alginate immobilized microorganisms and the biodegradation activity of both free and immobilized microorganisms in addition to studying the different factors affecting the degradation process as well as the stability of the immobilized cells. Hence, clear of the environment from these wastes in a safe way through several processes and techniques.