Plants, Microorganisms and Their Metabolites in Supporting Asbestos Detoxification-A Biological Perspective in Asbestos Treatment

Our plain-English summary of Plants, Microorganisms and Their Metabolites in Supporting Asbestos Detoxification-A Biological Perspective in Asbestos Treatment, by S. Łuniewski, W. Rogowska, B. Łozowicka, et al (Materials, 2024).

The study

• Authors: S. Łuniewski, W. Rogowska, B. Łozowicka, P. Iwaniuk
• Journal: Materials
• Published: 2024;17(7)
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 6 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Many countries banned asbestos due to its toxicity, but considering its colossal use, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, disposing of waste containing asbestos is the current problem. Today, many asbestos disposal technologies are known, but they usually involve colossal investment and operating expenses, and the end- and by-products of these methods negatively impact the environment. This paper identifies a unique modern direction in detoxifying asbestos minerals, which involves using microorganisms and plants and their metabolites. The work comprehensively focuses on the interactions between asbestos and plants, bacteria and fungi, including lichens and, for the first time, yeast. Biological treatment is a prospect for in situ land reclamation and under industrial conditions, which can be a viable alternative to landfilling and an environmentally friendly substitute or supplement to thermal, mechanical, and chemical methods, often characterized by high cost intensity. Plant and microbial metabolism products are part of the green chemistry trend, a central strategic pillar of global industrial and environmental development.

In plain English

This article was a review. It did not report new experiments or data. The authors described published research on how living organisms and their products interact with asbestos, and whether they could make asbestos waste and naturally occurring asbestos less hazardous. It covered bacteria, fungi, lichens, yeast and plants, and iron-binding compounds called siderophores. Among the studies described, Bhattacharya et al. reported a 40–70% reduction in asbestos iron using two Bacillus bacteria. Borges et al. reported that organic acids and sulfuric acid released up to 80–100% of the magnesium from chrysotile, and of the magnesium and calcium from asbestos cement tiles, after 30 days. Mohanty et al. reported that oxalic, malonic and citric acids at 100 micromolar were not effective at removing iron from chrysotile, most likely because of the low concentrations and high pH. The authors concluded that biological processes were useful but less efficient than conventional methods. In their view, combining microbial metabolites with conventional methods seemed best for asbestos-containing waste, and biological methods could be used for naturally occurring asbestos. The review did not study human health outcomes.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Narrative review of published literature; no new data
• Who was studied: No human population. The review covered published laboratory and field studies of interactions between asbestos and bacteria, fungi, lichens, yeast and plants.
• Exposure: Asbestos minerals (chrysotile and the amphiboles, including amosite, crocidolite and tremolite), asbestos-containing wastes, asbestos cement, and naturally occurring asbestos, treated with organisms or their metabolites (organic acids, melanins, siderophores, phytosiderophores)
• Main results:
  • In the reviewed study by Bhattacharya et al., Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus atrophaeus bacteria reduced the iron in asbestos by 40–70%, likely through siderophores.
  • In the reviewed study by Borges et al., degradation was measured as magnesium released from chrysotile, and as magnesium and calcium released from asbestos cement tiles.
  • In that Borges et al. study, organic acids and sulfuric acid reached up to 80–100% release of these measured elements after 30 days.
  • In the reviewed study by Mohanty et al., oxalic, malonic and citric acids at 100 micromolar were not effective at removing iron from chrysotile.
  • Mohanty et al. attributed this most likely to the low acid concentrations and high pH.
  • Also per Mohanty et al., a bacterial siderophore (desferrioxamine B) and a fungal siderophore (iron-free ferrichrome) were equally effective at removing iron from chrysotile fibers.
  • In reviewed work on Pseudomonas bacteria, their siderophores pyoverdine and pyochelin extracted more iron from asbestos fibers than EDTA did.
  • In a reviewed yeast study, crocidolite fibers deformed yeast cells and reduced their viability.
  • In reviewed plant studies, the plants Cymbopogon citratus and Chrysopogon zizanioides were reported as successful in phytoremediation of chromite-asbestos mine waste.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that biological processes are useful in asbestos detoxification, with effectiveness from 40% to nearly 100%. In their view, combining microbial metabolites with conventional methods seemed the best way to dispose of asbestos-containing waste, and biological methods could be used for naturally occurring asbestos.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors noted that biological processes are less efficient than conventional methods, and that their effect must be multiplied to get satisfactory results.
  • The authors noted that there are virtually no studies on using yeast for asbestos detoxification.
  • The authors noted that few studies exist on using microorganisms and their metabolites to dispose of asbestos-containing waste and naturally occurring asbestos.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos.

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