Research Projects

The use of drugs like Ibuprofen, Ketoprofen, Diclofenac, and Triclosan for fever, body pains, aches, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis has increased in recent years. These NSAIDs, which are commonly found in the Covid-19 pandemic, pose a potential threat to human life and aquatic environments. Bioremediation, a technique that uses living organisms and their byproducts to remove, degrade, or transform contaminants into fewer toxic forms, is considered the best option for treating these compounds. Biosurfactants, which are environmentally friendly, simple to carry out on site conditions, and low-cost, are proposed for their non-toxic nature, thermostability, long storage time, and environmental compatibility. The proposed investigation aims to develop a microbial biosurfactant for the degradation of ibuprofen, diclofenac, ketoprofen, and triclosan. The scientific objectives include isolating and identifying bacterial strains tolerant against these compounds, synthesizing the biosurfactant using crude sunflower oil substrate and nano integrated biosurfactant, detecting and degrading the selected compounds seasonally, and performance assessing the developed biosurfactant. The study also considers biosorption as a possible mechanism involved in the degradation process, where toxic metabolites undergo oxidation and degradation. Major experimental work includes isolation and identification of pure cultures, biosurfactant production, optimization of parameters, screening procedures, and characterization studies using various techniques such as SEM, FTIR, NMR, Zeta sizer, DLS, XRD, TEM, and LC-MS.