Papers by Priyangshu Sarma
The growing bioeconomy sector aims to reduce the amount of waste generated and to promote the
una... more The growing bioeconomy sector aims to reduce the amount of waste generated and to promote the
unavoidable waste generated as a resource and achieve higher levels of recycling and safe disposal. Post harvest
losses contribute to a substantial proportion of the loss that the agricultural biomass undergoes
in India. It is therefore important to make an assessment of this loss and assign a certain cost to it. In this
study, we have carried out an assessment of the residues that are generated in the field or on the farm at
the time of harvest (for example wheat and rice straw), wastes generated as a result of post-harvest losses.
In addition, the by-products from the processing of agricultural produce (for example sugarcane bagasse
produced during the production of sugar from sugar cane, or cereal husks produced during milling) are
also considered. Finally, certain aspects of the environmental impact and sustainability of the utilization
of agricultural residues and by-products are addressed.
International Journal of Coal Geology, 2015
There has been a growing interest in coal bed methane (CBM) both for energy production and reduct... more There has been a growing interest in coal bed methane (CBM) both for energy production and reduction of greenhouse gases. CBM has been used as an alternative fossil resource and methane generation from coal reservoirs and is contributing in meeting clean energy demand. India has CBM generating potential but lacks in technology for in situ biogenic methane generation from its coal reservoirs. Therefore, to explore the possibility of enhancing biogenic methane production in coal seams particularly those present at greater depth, in this study, a thermophilic methanogenic consortium was enriched from samples collected from Banaskantha coal mines (depth of about 1200 m) of western India that had bottom-hole temperature of around 62°C. Microbes were enriched with 1% (w/v) bituminous coal obtained from the same coal mines. Subsequently, effect of coal loading, temperature, pH and salinity were optimized for enhanced CBM generation for the selected consortium CBM 4. Maximum methane production of 22.9 mM/g of coal was observed by the thermophilic methanogenic consortium CBM 4 at temperature 60°C, pH 7.5 and salinity 0.1% NaCl. This study suggested that the selected consortium isolated from Banaskantha coal mines is capable of utilizing high rank bituminous coal as a carbon-energy source at thermophilic condition. Thus, indicating a possibility of stimulating or augmenting this consortium in coal seams of similar temperature and to develop a microbial process for enhanced CBM generation.
Applied and environmental microbiology, 2004
A bacterial strain, PS4040, capable of degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons for use as the ... more A bacterial strain, PS4040, capable of degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons for use as the sole carbon source was isolated from oily-sludge-contaminated soil. The 16S rRNA gene showed 98.8% homology to that of Leclercia adecarboxylata. Comparative molecular typing with the clinical strain of L. adecarboxylata revealed that there were few comigrating and few distinct amplimers among them.
Project co-funded by the European Commission within the 7 th Framework Programme Dissemination le... more Project co-funded by the European Commission within the 7 th Framework Programme Dissemination level PU Public x PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services) RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) CO Confidential only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services)
Project co-funded by the European Commission within the 7 th Framework Programme Dissemination le... more Project co-funded by the European Commission within the 7 th Framework Programme Dissemination level PU Public x PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services) RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) CO Confidential only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services)
India is rich in coal bed methane resources but still lacks in methane development technologies. ... more India is rich in coal bed methane resources but still lacks in methane development technologies. To begin understanding this prospective source, in the present investigation, microbial methane production was examined from bituminous, subbituminous and lignite coals obtained from Jharia coal mines in India. Microbial populations were enriched over a period of 21 days on various methanogenic specific substrates including the three ranks of coal. Maximum methane production (49%) was obtained on Methanosprillium sp specific medium (sodium acetate and isopropanol) supplemented with subbituminous coal at 65 C and pH 6.8. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences from the selected CBM65 consortium revealed a syntrophic association between a hydrogenotrophic methanogen Methanoculleus thermophiles and fermentative bacteria Comamonas sp. This is the first report of methane production by a consortium enriched from Indian coal bed methane reservoirs at such high temperature. The results of this study shed light on the fact that Jharia coal mines are methanogenically active and offer a prospective source for coal bed methane extraction. It is also, considered as the richest source of methane in India further this data will help in determining the potential role of methane emitted from this site in influencing the global carbon cycle.
Pedobiologia, 2010
Samples of eight geographically distinct soils contaminated with crude oil were screened for poly... more Samples of eight geographically distinct soils contaminated with crude oil were screened for polyhydroxyalkanoic acid (PHA) producing bacterial strains. Twenty three bacterial strains were able to accumulate PHA when sodium gluconate or sodium octanoate was used as the sole carbon source. Biochemical tests and 16S rRNA sequencing identified bacteria of the genera Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Sphingobacterium, Brochothrix, Caulobacter, Ralstonia, Burkholderia and Yokenella. Three of the bacterial strains have never been ...
Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2014
The application of recycled marine materials to develop sustainable remediation technologies in m... more The application of recycled marine materials to develop sustainable remediation technologies in marine environment was assessed. The remediation strategy consisted of a shell carrier mounted bacterial consortium composed of hydrocarbonoclastic strains enriched with nutrients (Bioaug SC). Pilot scale studies (5000 l) were used to examine the ability of Bioaug-SC to degrade weathered crude oil (10 g l(-1); initially 315,000±44,000 mg l(-1)) and assess the impacts of the introduction and biodegradation of oil. Total petroleum hydrocarbon mass was effectively reduced by 53.3 (±5.75)% to 147,000 (±21,000) mg l(-1) within 27 weeks. 16S rDNA bacterial community profiling using Denaturant Gradient Gel Electrophoresis revealed that cyanobacteria and Proteobacteria dominated the microbial community. Aquatic toxicity assessment was conducted by ecotoxicity assays using brine shrimp hatchability, Microtox and Phaeodactylum tricornutum. This study revealed the importance of combining ecotoxicity assays with oil chemistry analysis to ensure safe remediation methods are developed.
Letters in Applied Microbiology, 2006
To compare few phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of two desulfurizing bacterial strains, M... more To compare few phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of two desulfurizing bacterial strains, Mycobacterium phlei SM120-1 and Mycobacterium phlei GTIS10. In the present study, dibenzothiophene (DBT) desulfurizing activity, composition of fatty acids of cell membranes, DBT sulfone monoxygenase gene (bdsA) and the selection pressure applied during the growth and enrichment of the bacterial strains M. phlei SM120-1 and M. phlei GTIS10 were compared in our laboratory. The DBT desulfurization activity of M. phlei SM120-1 was found to be 0.17 +/- 0.02 micromol 2-HBP min(-1) (gram dry cell weight)(-1) and that of the bacterial strain M. phlei GTIS10 was 1.09 +/- 0.05 micromol 2-HBP min(-1) (gram dry cell weight)(-1). Fatty acid methyl ester analysis of cell membranes of these two bacterial strains in the presence of light gas oil showed that both the strains had different fatty acid profiles in their cell membranes. Comparison of the full gene sequences of the desulfurization gene bdsA in the two bacterial strains showed significant difference in the bdsA gene sequences. There was a significant difference observed in the selection pressure applied during the growth and enrichment of the two bacterial strains. The results of the comparative study of the bacterial strains, M. phlei SM120-1 and M. phlei GTIS10 showed that there were considerable differences in the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of these two strains. The present study would broaden the understanding of biodesulfurization trait at intra-species level.
Journal of Environmental Sciences, 2011
We compared the efficacy of a natural biocide with four chemical tetrakishydroxymethyl phosphoniu... more We compared the efficacy of a natural biocide with four chemical tetrakishydroxymethyl phosphonium sulfonate, benzyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, and formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, to control microbial induced corrosion in oil pipelines. The efficacy of biocides were monitored against Desulfovibrio vulgaris and Desulfovibrio gigas in experimental pipes by measuring cell counts, H 2 S production, Fe(II) production, production of extracellular polymeric substances and structure of biofilm. The treatment with cow urine had minimum planktonic cell counts of 3 × 10 2 CFU/mL as well as biofilm cell counts of 9 × 10 1 CFU/mL as compared with tetrakishydroxyl methyl phosphonium sulfonate, benzyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde. Sulfide production was the lowest with cow urine (0.08 mmol/L), followed by tetrakishydroxymethyl phosphonium sulfonate 0.72 mmol/L. On day 90 of treatment, Fe(II) production was also found to be the lowest with cow urine. The scanning electron microscopic studies indicated that the biofilm bacteria were killed by cow urine. These results demonstrate the cow urine mediated control of microbially induced corrosion, and this is indicative of its potential as a viable substitute of toxic biocides. To the best of our knowledge, this seems to be the first report which screens possible biocidal activity by cow urine as compared to the most common biocides which oil industry is currently using.
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2009
Mesophilic Distribution of volatile fatty acids a b s t r a c t Present study investigated fermen... more Mesophilic Distribution of volatile fatty acids a b s t r a c t Present study investigated fermentative hydrogen production of two novel isolates of Enterobacter aerogenes HGN-2 and HT 34 isolated from oil water mixtures. The two isolates were identified as novel strains of E. aerogenes based on 16S rRNA gene. The batch fermentations of two strains from glucose and xylose were carried out using economical culture medium under various conditions such as temperature, initial pH, NaCl, Ni þ /Fe þþ , substrate concentrations for enhanced fermentation process. Both the strains favoured wide range of pH (6.5-8.0) at 37 C for optimum production (2.20-2.23 mol H 2 /mol-glucose), which occurred through acetate/butyrate pathway. At 55 C, both strains favoured 6.0-6.5 and acetate type fermentation was predominant in HT 34. Hydrogen production by HT 34 from xylose was highly pH dependant and optimum production was at pH 6.5 (circa 1.98 mol-H 2 /mol-xylose) through acetate pathway. The efficiency of the strain HGN-2 at pH 6.5 was 1.92-1.94 mol-H 2 /mol-xylose, and displayed both acetate and butyrate pathways.
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2010
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2010
Dark fermentative bacterial strains were isolated from riverbed sediments and investigated for hy... more Dark fermentative bacterial strains were isolated from riverbed sediments and investigated for hydrogen production. A series of batch experiments were conducted to study the effect of pH, substrate concentration and temperature on hydrogen production from a selected bacterial consortium, TERI BH05. Batch experiments for fermentative conversion of sucrose, starch, glucose, fructose, and xylose indicated that TERI BH05 effectively utilized all the five sugars to produce fermentative hydrogen. Glucose was the most preferred carbon source indicating highest hydrogen yields of 22.3 mmol/L. Acetic and butyric acid were the major soluble metabolites detected. Investigation on optimization of pH, temperature, and substrate concentration revealed that TERI BH05 produced maximum hydrogen at 37 C, pH 6 with 8 g/L of glucose supplementation and maximum yield of hydrogen production observed was 2.0-2.3 mol H 2 /mol glucose. Characterization of TERI BH05 revealed the presence of two different bacterial strains showing maximum homology to Clostridium butyricum and Clostridium bifermentans. .in (B. Lal).
FEMS Microbiology Letters, 2004
A hydrocarbon degrading Acinetobacter baumannii S30 strain, isolated from crude oil-contaminated ... more A hydrocarbon degrading Acinetobacter baumannii S30 strain, isolated from crude oil-contaminated soil, was inserted with the lux gene from the luciferase gene cassette luxCDABE. Soil microcosms were designed to study the degradation efficacy for total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) of crude oil by lux-tagged A. baumannii S30 pJES. Bioaugmentation of a TPH-contaminated microcosm with A baumannii S30 pJES showed that TPH levels were reduced from 89.3 to 53.9 g/kg soil in 90 days. Biodegradation of TPH by A baumannii S30 pJES was also monitored in shake flask conditions, which showed a reduction of initial TPH levels by over 50% at the end of 120 h. A lux-PCR-based approach along with the standard dilution plating with selective antibiotics was successfully utilized to monitor the survivability of the lux-tagged strain A. baumannii S30 pJES in soil microcosms and stability of the lux insert in the host strain A. baumannii S30. The selective plating technique indicated the population of A. baumannii S30 pJES to be 6.5 AE 0.13 Â 10 8 CFU/g at day zero (just after bioaugmentation) and 2.09 AE 0.08 Â 10 8 CFU/g of soil after 90 days of incubation. lux-PCR confirmed the stability of the insert in all the randomly selected colonies of A. baumannii strains from the antibiotic plates. The lux insert was stable after 50 generations in Luria Bertini broth and storage at )70°C as glycerol stocks for over a year. These results revealed that the lux insert was stable and lux-tagged A. baumannii S30 strain could survive in a TPH-contaminated soil microcosm and could degrade TPH in the soil microcosm conditions. It can be used as an effective marker to monitor the survival of augmented strains at a bioremediation site.
Chemical Communications, 2013
Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) developed biocathodes efficient for reduction of acetic and butyr... more Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) developed biocathodes efficient for reduction of acetic and butyric acids to alcohols and acetone via direct electron transfer reaching current densities of 160-210 A m À2 .
Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 2004
A total of 96 crude oil -degrading bacterial strains were isolated from 5 geographically diverse ... more A total of 96 crude oil -degrading bacterial strains were isolated from 5 geographically diverse sites in India that were contaminated with different types of petroleum hydrocarbons. The strains were identified by sequencing the genes that encode for 16S rRNA. Out of the 96 isolates, 25 strains were identified as Acinetobacter baumannii and selected for the study. All of the selected strains could degrade the total petroleum hydrocarbon fractions of crude oil. These 25 strains were biochemically profiled and grouped into 8 phenovars on the basis of multivariate analysis of their substrate utilization profiles. PCR-based DNA fingerprinting was performed using intergenic repetitive DNA sequences, which divided the selected 25 strains into 7 specific genomic clusters. tRNA intergenic spacer length polymorphism was performed to determine the intra-species relatedness among these 25 strains. It delineated the strains into 8 genomic groups. The present study detected specific variants among the A. baumannii strains with differential degradation capacities for different fractions of crude oil. This could play a significant role in in situ bioremediation. The study also revealed the impact of environmental factors that cause intra-species diversity within the selected strains of A. baumannii.
Bioresource Technology, 2012
A metagenomic library of 2.1 Â 10 6 clones was constructed using oil-contaminated soil from Gujar... more A metagenomic library of 2.1 Â 10 6 clones was constructed using oil-contaminated soil from Gujarat (India). One of the fosmid clones, 40N22, encodes a polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase showing 76% identity with an Alcaligenes sp. synthase. The corresponding gene was expressed in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 DphaC1 which is impaired in PHA production. The gene conferred the recombinant strain PpKT-40N22 with the ability to produce copolymers with up to 21% in medium-chain-length content. Thus, 37% and 45% of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate-co-3-hydroxyoctanoate), respectively were obtained when using sodium heptanoate and oleic acid as carbon sources. These 3-hydroxybutyrate-(3HB)-based polymers are of interest since they incorporate the properties of medium chain length polymers and thus increase the range of applications of PHAs.
Biodegradation, 2012
Petroleum hydrocarbon is an important energy resource, but it is difficult to exploit due to the ... more Petroleum hydrocarbon is an important energy resource, but it is difficult to exploit due to the presence of dominated heavy constituents such as asphaltenes. In this study, viscosity reduction of Jodhpur heavy oil (2,637 cP at 50°C) has been carried out by the biodegradation of asphalt using a bacterial strain TERIG02. TERIG02 was isolated from sea buried oil pipeline known as Mumbai Uran trunk line (MUT) located on western coast of India and identified as Garciaella petrolearia by 16S rRNA full gene sequencing. TERIG02 showed 42% viscosity reduction when asphalt along with molasses was used as a sole carbon source compared to only asphalt (37%). The viscosity reduction by asphaltene degradation has been structurally characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). This strain also shows an additional preference to degrade toxic asphalt and aromatics compounds first unlike the other known strains. All these characteristics makes TERIG02 a potential candidate for enhanced oil recovery and a solution to degrading toxic aromatic compounds.
Biodegradation, 2010
A newly discovered enteric bacterium Leclercia adecarboxylata PS4040, isolated from oily sludge c... more A newly discovered enteric bacterium Leclercia adecarboxylata PS4040, isolated from oily sludge contaminated soil sample was reported for degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (Appl Environ Microbiol 70:3163-3166, 2004a). This strain could degrade 61.5% of pyrene within 20 days when used as sole source of carbon and energy. The time course degradation experiment detected several intermediate products and the metabolites were identified by gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis. Metabolite I was the detected on the 5th day and was identified as 1hydroxypyrene and was detected till 10th day. Metabolite II which was detected on 10th day was identified as 1,2-phenanthrenedicarboxylic acid. Metabolite III and Metabolite IV were identified as 2-carboxy benzaldehyde and ortho-phthalic acid, respectively and were detected in the culture broth on 10th and 15th day. 1,2-benzene diol (catechol) was the fifth metabolite detected in the culture extracts on the 15th day and was subsequently reduced on day 20. Identification of Metabolite I as 1-hydroxypyrene was further investigated as this intermediate was not previously reported as a ring oxidation product for degradation of pyrene by bacterial strains. Purification by preparative high performance liquid chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, confirmed the identification of Metabolite I as 1-hydroxypyrene. L. adecarboxylata PS4040 could also use 1-hydroxypyrene as a sole source of carbon and energy. Thus a probable pathway for degradation of pyrene by enteric bacterium is proposed in this study, with 1-hydroxypyrene as initial ring oxidation product.
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Papers by Priyangshu Sarma
unavoidable waste generated as a resource and achieve higher levels of recycling and safe disposal. Post harvest
losses contribute to a substantial proportion of the loss that the agricultural biomass undergoes
in India. It is therefore important to make an assessment of this loss and assign a certain cost to it. In this
study, we have carried out an assessment of the residues that are generated in the field or on the farm at
the time of harvest (for example wheat and rice straw), wastes generated as a result of post-harvest losses.
In addition, the by-products from the processing of agricultural produce (for example sugarcane bagasse
produced during the production of sugar from sugar cane, or cereal husks produced during milling) are
also considered. Finally, certain aspects of the environmental impact and sustainability of the utilization
of agricultural residues and by-products are addressed.
unavoidable waste generated as a resource and achieve higher levels of recycling and safe disposal. Post harvest
losses contribute to a substantial proportion of the loss that the agricultural biomass undergoes
in India. It is therefore important to make an assessment of this loss and assign a certain cost to it. In this
study, we have carried out an assessment of the residues that are generated in the field or on the farm at
the time of harvest (for example wheat and rice straw), wastes generated as a result of post-harvest losses.
In addition, the by-products from the processing of agricultural produce (for example sugarcane bagasse
produced during the production of sugar from sugar cane, or cereal husks produced during milling) are
also considered. Finally, certain aspects of the environmental impact and sustainability of the utilization
of agricultural residues and by-products are addressed.