Due to the growing need to find a more efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional waste removal methods, industries are paying more attention to the function of bacteria and their EPS sugars in bioremediation.
Researchers found that adding EPS sugars from cyanobacteria to wastewaters removes heavy metals such as copper, cadmium and lead. EPS sugars alone can physically interact with these heavy metals and take them in through biosorption. The efficiency of removal can be optimized by treating the EPS sugars with different acids or bases before adding them to wastewater. Some contaminated soils contain high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); EPSs from the bacterium Zoogloea sp. and the fungus Aspergillus niger, are efficient at removing these toxic compounds. EPSs contain enzymes such as oxidoreductase and hydrolase, which are capable of degrading PAHs. The amount of PAH degradation depends on the concentration of EPSs added to the soil. This method proves to be low cost and highly efficient.
In recent years, EPS sugars from marine bacteria have been found to speed up the cleanup of oil spills. During the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, these EPS-producing bacteria were able to grow and multiply rapidly. It was later found that their EPS sugars dissolved the oil and formed oil aggregates on the ocean surface, which sped up the cleaning process. These oil aggregates also provided a valuable source of nutrients for other marine microbial communities. This let scientists modify and optimize the use of EPS sugars to clean up oil spills.