Research into processes where microbes degrade emerging contaminants and convert waste into value-added products are underway thanks to a relatively new research group at the engineering faculty of the Universidad del Valle (Univalle).
Professor Howard Ramirez, director of the Applied Chemical and Biological Processes Research Group (BIOQUIMAP), is working with collaborators in other parts of Colombia (and the world) to identify and apply industrial-scale microbes and processes for a wide range of purposes including degrading emerging contaminants.
Emerging contaminants are synthetic or naturally occurring chemicals or any microorganisms that are not routinely monitored in the environment, but have the potential to enter the environment and cause known or suspected adverse ecological and/or human health effects.
In 2020, Professor Ramirez and his collaborators published the paper "Emerging contaminants as global environmental hazards. A bibliometric analysis" and professor Ramirez says that today it is one of the most downloaded and cited publications in the scientific journal Emerging Contaminants.
The main topic evaluated by the researchers was the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in wastewater and the removal of these contaminants through the application of adsorption and advanced oxidation processes.
"This publication can serve as a reference and/or basis for researchers around the world delving deeper into the topic," Professor Ramirez said.
This work presents a review of almost 5000 scientific publications between 2000 and 2019 on emerging contaminants, showing that the United States, China, Spain, Italy and Canada were the 5 most productive countries in terms of number of publications.
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| Photo: Professor Howard Ramirez, director of the Applied Chemical and Biological Processes Research Group (BIOQUIMAP). Credit: Andrew James/NCC-FI/Univalle |
The Circular Economy
For more than 10 years, Prof. Ramirez focused on optimizing the production of antibiotics, and now, he is using all the knowledge he has already learned to use other microbes to convert waste or low-value inputs into high value-added products, contributing to the circular economy.
Professor Ramirez explained that, using established biotechnology techniques, he is able to take genes that express a useful characteristic and transfer them to E. coli bacteria, which is a microorganism that is easy to reproduce and maintain.
With the right process and microbe, waste such as crop residues (CSR) from sugarcane or agricultural products such as cassava starch can produce medicines, antibiotics, bioplastics or energy sources.
He added that the processes they are working out in the lab are a combination of simulation and experimentation in bioreactors.
"Experimentation in the laboratory can be expensive, so we carry out simulations to reproduce/predict some phenomena and decrease the costs of experimentation, as well as optimize the processes," said Professor Ramirez, adding, that developing this knowledge could be a great advantage for Univalle, the Valle del Cauca region and the whole country.
"Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and we have a large amount of biological material with which we can do wonders," said Professor Ramirez.
Professor Ramirez stated that with the right microbes, human talent and process knowledge, there is a lot of potential to develop better and new products and industries in the Cauca Valley region.
The global microbiome and microbial products market is expected to reach $302.4 billion in 2023, up 10.2% from the 2018 result of $186.3 billion, according to a 2018 market report.
"If we can develop and optimize the process; incorporate waste into these processes; and generate value-added products for domestic consumption and/or export, we can, as a country, be a powerhouse, because we have a privileged position of the tropics," Professor Ramirez said.
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Regional and International Collaborators
Professor Ramirez did his doctoral studies in collaboration with the Technische Universität Berlin in Germany and his links to European and biotechnology experts there have deepened over the years."The research group has a strong research collaboration with Germany," Prof. Ramirez said, specifically mentioning his collaborations with Prof. Peter Neubauer, Chair of Bioprocess Engineering, at the Department of Biotechnology at TU Berlin and Dr. Stefan Junne, group leader of one of their research lines.
In addition, Neubauer and Junne regularly visit the Meléndez campus of Univalle in Cali, Colombia, to strengthen research collaboration.
Including its international collaborators, the BIOQUIMAP group has about 10 undergraduate students; two doctoral students; other professors and other groups from Univalle; and collaborators in other public universities in Colombia including the Universidad del Atlántico in Barranquilla and the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín.
Professor Diego Quiñones, a faculty member of the Faculty of Engineering at the Universidad del Atlántico and a co-author of the 2020 publication, said that in addition to generating knowledge through research processes, universities are called upon to transmit that information.
"In this sense, I believe that through this type of collaborations the universities of Atlántico and Valle are making important efforts to make available to the scientific community quality information that can boost the development of new research in the environmental area, biotechnology, chemical engineering, among others," Professor Quiñones said.
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