Producción Científica

The globe is presently reliant on natural resources, fossil fuels, and crude oil to support the world’s energy requirements. Human exploration for oil resources is always associated with irreversible effects. Primary sources of hydrocarbon pollution are instigated through oil exploration, extraction, and transportation in the Arctic region. To address the state of pollution, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms and processes of the bioremediation of hydrocarbons. The application of various microbial communities originated from the Arctic can provide a better interpretation on the mechanisms of specific microbes in the biodegradation process. The composition of oil and consequences of hydrocarbon pollutants to the various marine environments are also discussed in this paper. An overview of emerging trends on literature or research publications published in the last decade was compiled via bibliometric analysis in relation to the topic of interest, which is the microbial community present in the Arctic and Antarctic marine environments. This review also presents the hydrocarbon-degrading microbial community present in the Arctic, biodegradation metabolic pathways (enzymatic level), and capacity of microbial degradation from the perspective of metagenomics. The limitations are stated and recommendations are proposed for future research prospects on biodegradation of oil contaminants by microbial community at the low temperature regions of the Arctic.

T Oil pollution can cause tremendous harm and risk to the water ecosystem and organisms due to the relatively recalcitrant hydrocarbon compounds. The current chemical method used to treat the ecosystem polluted with diesel is incompetent and expensive for a large-scale treatment. Thus, bioremediation technique seems urgent and requires more attention to solve the existing environmental problems. Biological agents, including microorganisms, carry out the biodegradation process where organic pollutants are mineralized into water, carbon dioxide, and less toxic compounds. Hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria are ubiquitous in the nature and often exploited for their specialty to bioremediate the oil-polluted area. The capability of these bacteria to utilize hydrocarbon compounds as a carbon source is the main reason behind their species exploitation. Recently, microbial remediation by halophilic bacteria has received many positive feedbacks as an efficient pollutant degrader. These halophilic bacteria are also considered as suitable candidates for bioremediation in hypersaline environments. However, only a few microbial species have been isolated with limited available information on the biodegradation of organic pollutants by halophilic bacteria. The fundamental aspect for successful bioremediation includes selecting appropriate microbes with a high capability of pollutant degradation. Therefore, high salinity bacteria are remarkable microbes for diesel degradation. This paper provides an updated overview of diesel hydrocarbon degradation, the effects of oil spills on the environment and living organisms, and the potential role of high salinity bacteria to decontaminate the organic pollutants in the water environment.

Simple Summary Anthropogenic activities in cold regions require petroleum oils to support various purposes. With the increased demand of petroleum, accidental oil spills are generated during transportation or refuelling processes. Soil is one of the major victims in petroleum pollution, hence studies have been devoted to find solutions to remove these petroleum hydrocarbons. However, the remote and low-temperature conditions in cold regions hindered the implementation of physical and chemical removal treatments. On the other hand, biological treatments in general have been proposed as an innovative approach to attenuate these hydrocarbon pollutants in soils. To understand the relevancy of biological treatments for cold regions specifically, bibliometric analysis has been applied to systematically analyse studies focused on hydrocarbon removal treatment in a biological way. To expedite the understanding of this analysis, we have summarised these biological treatments and suggested other biological applications in the context of cold conditions. The increased usage of petroleum oils in cold regions has led to widespread oil pollutants in soils. The harsh environmental conditions in cold environments allow the persistence of these oil pollutants in soils for more than 20 years, raising adverse threats to the ecosystem. Microbial bioremediation was proposed and employed as a cost-effective tool to remediate petroleum hydrocarbons present in soils without significantly posing harmful side effects. However, the conventional hydrocarbon bioremediation requires a longer time to achieve the clean-up standard due to various environmental factors in cold regions. Recent biotechnological improvements using biostimulation and/or bioaugmentation strategies are reported and implemented to enhance the hydrocarbon removal efficiency under cold conditions. Thus, this review focuses on the enhanced bioremediation for hydrocarbon-polluted soils in cold regions, highlighting in situ and ex situ approaches and few potential enhancements via the exploitation of molecular and microbial technology in response to the cold condition. The bibliometric analysis of the hydrocarbon bioremediation research in cold regions is also presented.

Society faces a significant problem in regards to the spread of harmful products in the environment, primarily caused by accelerated growth and resource consumption. Consequently, there is a need for materials to be processed in less harmful ways and to remedy the contaminated sources they generate. Microporous materials have been studied for a long time and are used in waste treatment alternatives. Natural zeolites, on which this study is based, are attractive to the scientific and technological communities, due to their numerous applications as decontaminants and adsorption properties. This study analyzes the intellectual structures of publications related to natural zeolites in environmental remediation, using bibliometric methods to determine their volumes and trends. The methodology comprises of an analysis based on 1582 articles, using VOSviewer software, with data from 1974 to 2020, via the Scopus database. Results reflect a notable increase in publications from the end of the 1990s; the greatest contribution in the area comes from Eurasian countries. The study considers that development in this line of research will continue to increase and serve as a great contribution to preserve the environment in coming years, with themes that focus on water treatment (e.g., drinking water, wastewater, greywater), removal of heavy metals, ammonium, ammonia, and construction.

Water pollution is a worldwide problem. Water consumption increases at a faster rate than population and this leads to a higher pollution rate. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) include proposals aimed at ensuring the availability of clean water and its sustainable management (Goal 6), as well as the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and seas. The current trend consists in trying to reconcile economic growth with sustainability, avoiding the negative externalities for the environment generated by human activity. More specifically, the objective of this article is to present the evolution of the research regarding the removal of polluting pharmaceuticals that are discharged into wastewater. To do that, a bibliometric analysis of 2938 articles comprising the period 1979-2020 has been carried out. This analysis includes productivity indicators in the scientific field: journals, authors, research institutions and countries. In addition, keyword analysis allows the identification of four main axes of the research regarding the removal of pharmaceutical residues found in wastewater. The first group of articles is aimed at identifying the pharmaceuticals present in polluting effluents. The second and third groups of articles focus on presenting the procedures that enable the treatment of emerging contaminants, either from a biological point of view (second group) or a physicochemical point of view (third group). The fourth group refers to water quality and its possibilities to be reused. Finally, there is a growing trend of worldwide scientific publications, which justifies the importance of polluting residues management, especially those of pharmaceutical origin, in order to achieve a more sustainable society.

One of the most severe environmental issues affecting the sustainable growth of human society is water pollution. Phenolic compounds are toxic, hazardous and carcinogenic to humans and animals even at low concentrations. Thus, it is compulsory to remove the compounds from polluted wastewater before being discharged into the ecosystem. Biotechnology has been coping with environmental problems using a broad spectrum of microorganisms and biocatalysts to establish innovative techniques for biodegradation. Biological treatment is preferable as it is cost-effective in removing organic pollutants, including phenol. The advantages and the enzymes involved in the metabolic degradation of phenol render the efficiency of microalgae in the degradation process. The focus of this review is to explore the trends in publication (within the year of 2000-2020) through bibliometric analysis and the mechanisms involved in algae phenol degradation. Current studies and publications on the use of algae in bioremediation have been observed to expand due to environmental problems and the versatility of microalgae. VOSviewer and SciMAT software were used in this review to further analyse the links and interaction of the selected keywords. It was noted that publication is advancing, with China, Spain and the United States dominating the studies with total publications of 36, 28 and 22, respectively. Hence, this review will provide an insight into the trends and potential use of algae in degradation.

As a result of anthropogenic action, an increasing amount of toxic organic compounds has been released into the environment. These pollutants have adverse effects on human health and wildlife, which has motivated the development of different types of technologies for the treatment of effluents and contaminated environments. The electrochemical degradation of organic pollutants has attracted the interest of research centers around the world for its environmental compatibility, high efficiency, and affordable cost. In the present study, a bibliometric analysis was performed using the Web of Science database in order to assess the progress of publications related to electrochemical degradation of organic pollutants between the years 2001 and 2021. The data retrieved showed a significant increase in publications related to the topic in the last 20 years. Electrochimica Acta was the magazine responsible for the largest number of publications (291, 6.52%). The studies mainly included the areas of engineering, chemistry, and environmental science ecology. China with a total of 1472 (32.96%) publications dominated research in this area, followed by Spain (436, 9.76%) and Brazil (345, 7.72%). The institutions with the highest number of contributions were the University of Barcelona and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the most productive authors were Brillas E. and Oturan M. A. The results of this study provide important references and information on possible research directions for future investigations on electrochemical degradation of organic pollutants.

The access to open government data has been a relevant topic for societies around the world, especially over the last ten years. This paper aims to analyze the indicators of the Sao Paulo City Observatory (ObservaSampa), confronting them with the ISO 3712x series (sustainable, smart, and resilient cities) standards, to assess if the former meet both open data principles and the ISO prescriptions. Bibliometric analysis, comparative analysis, cluster analysis, and principal component analysis (PCA) were the methods used in this research. From the comparative analysis, 18 indicators were identified as conforming and 41 as partially conforming. Thus, 20% of the ObservaSampa indicators adhere to the ISO standards. The PCA applied to the conforming indicators shows component 1 is related to socioeconomic dimensions, while component 2 refers to social policy, with both appraisals confirmed by cluster analysis. Measuring and presenting city data in compliance with indicator standards is relevant because they open the possibility of comparing different cities. However, there is still a lack of consensus on a common set of indicators to be accommodated within the current ISO standards system.

Rivers are important ecosystems, vital to the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of humans and other species. Despite their environmental, social, and economic importance, current use of rivers is unsustainable, due to a combination of solid waste and high levels of pollutants. Plastic materials are among the most predominant of such pollutants. Based on the need for additional research in this area, this study examines pressures put to rivers and explores trends related to riverine plastic pollution, with a focus on Asia. Apart from the bibliometric analysis, and relying on the collected information, examples describing the drivers of riverine plastic pollution in a sample of Asian countries are described, outlining the specific problem and its scope. Among some of the results obtained from it, mention can be made to the fact that much of the literature focuses on plastic pollution as a whole and less on one of its most significant ramifications, namely microplastics. Additionally, there is a need related to data availability on riverine plastic data and improving the understanding of transport mechanisms in relation to riverine plastic emission into the ocean. The results from this study illustrate the significance of the problems posed by plastic waste to Asian rivers and point out the fact that there are still significant gaps in respect of regulations and standards, which prevent improvements that are highlighted in this study. Based on the results of this bibliometric assessment, specific measures via which levels of riverine plastic pollution may be reduced are presented, bringing relevant new insights on this topic beyond the existing reviews.

Tropical ecosystems play an important role in the environment. They provide multiple ecosystem services, such as carbon capture and sequestration, food supply, and climate regulation. Studying land use and land cover change makes it possible to understand the land’s alterations associated with deforestation, degradation, erosion, soil desertification, and biodiversity loss. The objective of this study is to evaluate the different approaches to land use and land cover research in tropical forests based on the evolutionary and qualitative analysis of the last 44 years of scientific production. The data were collected using the Scopus database and was based on the PRISMA methodology’s four phases: (i) identification, (ii) screening, (iii) eligibility, and (iv) included. The results showed a significant increase in the study of land use and land cover consolidated in 4557 articles, with contributions from 74 countries, revealing 14 themes and seven lines of research. Core research areas such as biodiversity, land use, and conservation exist due to the ongoing interest in the value of tropical forests and their response to climate change. The present research allowed us to consider future study topics such as the relationship between sustainable development goals and land use and cover in tropical forests, as well as the evaluation of the environmental impact of economic activities in forests.