Biotechnology has played role in every sector, whether it is industry, agriculture or environment. Our focus is on the environmental biotechnology. The study of natural environment and its applications is called environmental biotechnology. The purpose of environmental biotechnology is used to study the harmful substances which are contaminating the environment and discovering and inventing such processes which can be beneficial for the environment. First we have to see that how the environmental biotechnology is useful for the environment. There are many pollutants which affect the atmosphere and make it polluted. For example the smoke of the cars and burning of the plastic shoppers and other waste materials. These materials together harm the environment and make it contaminated and various diseases can occur in humans due to the environment. It is a common experience that big industries do not have the proper methods to dispose off the waste materials due to which these materials come in the water and make water polluted. These wastes consist of such materials which cannot be decomposed by micro-organisms. Due to which, they pollute the water as well as environment.

Biotechnology plays an important role in the sense that some of the micro-organisms are isolated from such environment. They are observed in the laboratory. Their genetic makeup is viewed; some of them show modifications or mutations in their genome. These modified genes are identified and can be used fro various purposes like pharmaceuticals and fermentation. Similarly oil spills in the seas require microbes which clean the oils. These microbes are isolated from oil wells or from the other places which are rich with oil. These microbes are capable of degrading the oil and make use of it in the energy sector. . These oil microbes are very important fro oil spills. Other pesticides are also extracted from such places and are used for various useful purposes.
Domestic wastes are difficult to decompose. There is a lot of cost and energy is needed to degrade such wastes because these wastes are made up of biodegradable organics. Anaerobic digestion has been used to decompose domestic wastes. This technique is beneficial for the environment also because, environment cannot be effected. Anaerobic digestion is still under progress and in the near future it will be possible to recycle the domestic wastes and make use of them in a healthy way.

Bioremediation is another process which is very much useful and provides healthy environment. This technique cleans the pollutants from the environment and from water. In this technique micro-organisms are used which have the special qualities of degrading waste materials and recycling them. In some cases, micro-organisms use the metabolic pathways for the degradation of the wastes. Micro-organisms use these metabolites for their own growth and energy. When the micro-organisms complete the process of degradation, as a result, energy, carbon dioxide and other useful components are released which can be used for various biological purposes. Incomplete degradation of pollutants is not healthy and produces harmful substances which are harmful for the environment.

About Author / Additional Info: