Chinese researchers create innovative synthetic bacteria to clean high-salinity industrial wastewater

Chinese scientists have developed an innovative synthetic bacteria strain capable of simultaneously degrading five persistent organic pollutants commonly found in high-salinity industrial wastewater. This is reported by CGTN, a partner of TV BRICS.

The research was led by a team from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The scientists designed a novel bacterial strain equipped with five engineered metabolic pathways that allow it to break down a complex mix of hazardous aromatic pollutants, including biphenyl, phenol, naphthalene, dibenzofuran, and toluene.

High-salinity wastewater, often produced by chemical manufacturing and oil and gas operations, poses an environmental threat due to its combination of organic pollutants, heavy metals, and toxic substances. Natural microbial solutions have been unable to address such mixtures effectively, as most bacteria can only target a limited range of contaminants.

To overcome this, the Chinese research team constructed a modular strain capable of degrading multiple pollutants in parallel. Laboratory trials showed that within 48 hours, the engineered bacterium achieved over 60 per cent removal across all five target compounds, including full degradation of biphenyl and nearly 90 per cent efficiency in breaking down toluene and dibenzofuran.

According to the research team, the breakthrough opens new pathways for large-scale environmental remediation. The bacteria’s potential applications include industrial wastewater treatment, oil spill response, and possibly even the future biodegradation of microplastics.

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