Role of Extremophiles in the Treatment of Industrial Waste, Pharmaceuticals, and Personal Care Products

Industrial waste, pharmaceutical waste, and personal care products’ prevalence in soil and water bodies are of emerging concern at present. Moreover, the subsequent dischargeDischarge of waste after partial treatmentPartial treatment makes it a major contaminantContaminant of the water sources which might percolate down and become a part of the underground water table endangeringEndangering our health. Compared to other chemical processes of waste treatment and remediation, bioremediation or biological methodsBiological methods turns out to be comparatively cleaner, safer, and sustainable approach. Since the beginning of time, microbes have existed in hostileHostile environments. “Extremophiles” are a set of uncommon organisms that can thriveThrive in conditions that are entirely maleficMalefic for other sophisticated speciesSophisticated species. The specializationSpecialization of their extremophilic enzymesExtremophilic enzymes, their protein foldingProtein folding, and specific amino acidAmino-acid makeup make it convenient for their adaptationAdaptation to extremesExtremes. These enzymes are specialized to function at a broad span or spectrumSpectrum of temperaturesTemperatures (both high and low), pressuresPressure, salinitySalinity, and pH levelspH level. Bacterial strainsBacterial strains were assessedAssessed to select the best organisms for tasks like the bioremediationRemediation experiments. One of the selection criteriaCriteria is the strains’ ability to metabolizeMetabolize and growGrow with various aliphaticAliphatic and aromaticAromatics chemicals, and kinds that have demonstrated superioritySuperiority in a variety of substratesSubstrates were chosen over others by the specialists for investigationInvestigation. This chapter first discusses the different types of extremophiles and their specializations. Secondly, it elucidatesElucidates the factors that make extremophiles ideal candidatesIdeal candidates for bioremediationRemediation and thus choosing a bioremediationRemediation candidate which is potentPotent for a particular siteParticular site. Finally, it highlightsHighlights the various pollutantsPollutants dischargedDischarged mainly by the industriesIndustries, pharmaceutical companiesPharmaceutical companies, and personal care pollutants and thereby the possible ways of remediationRemediation utilizing the specialties or uniquenessUniqueness of extremophiles. This study highlightsHighlights the bioremediationRemediation procedure mainly using thermophilesThermophiles,Thermophiles halophiles,Halophiles acidophilesAcidophiles, basophiles,Basophiles and metallophilesMetallophiles. A large variety of consumerConsumer-dependent personal care products like shampooShampoo, detergentDetergent, sanitizersSanitizers, and cosmetic productsCosmetic products contain microplasticsMicro-plastic as one of their constituents. Moreover, various dyesDyes, bleaching creamsBleaching creams, sunscreenSunscreen gel and lotions, surmaSurma or kajal,Kajal and sindurSindur are well-known sources of metallic contaminantsMetallic contaminants like mercuryMercury. Hence, one of the main goalsGoals of this review is to increase consumerConsumer awarenessAwareness for judicious useJudicious use of the PCPs as well as ensure proper handling of the wastesWastes generated thereby. Pharmaceutical agents are frequently related to antibiotic resistanceAntibiotic resistance bacterial strains and antibiotic resistanceAntibiotic resistance genes. This chapter sheds light on the steps leading to sustainable developmentSustainable development utilizing the distinguishing characteristics of the extremophilic strains. This in order will help to overcome the present drawbacks and hence leading to a “healthier ecosystem”Ecosystem and a “greener planet,” which will be a boonBoon for the upcoming generationsGenerations.