Biological Processes: Putting Microbes to Work
A polluted river in India.Copyright 2011 Robert Bair, STARS – University of South Florida
Students learn the fundamentals of using microbes to treat wastewater. They discover how wastewater is generated and its primary constituents. Microbial metabolism, enzymes and bioreactors are explored in the hands-on associated activities to fully understand the primary processes occurring within organisms.
Environmental engineers use biological processes to accomplish a variety of environmentally important tasks including wastewater treatment, soil remediation, aquifer remediation and drinking water treatment. Understanding the way that microorganisms grow can help engineers develop more effective and efficient treatment systems.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Characterize wastewater constituents and define points of origin.
- Describe what happens when raw wastewater is released in natural water bodies.
- Identify biological processes as the primary method of cleaning water.
- Define keywords like enzyme and bioreactor.
- Identify the five stages of growth experienced by microorganisms.
- Explain how engineers determine whether microbes are growing successfully.
- Explain how engineers use microbes to break down pollutants.