In a laboratory in Edinburgh, robotic machines are creating a pine-smelling chemical that can be used as an ingredient in perfumes. The starting material is somewhat unusual: a brown, gloopy, fat mixture, recently fished out from below ground – sourced from so-termed ‘fatbergs’.
As Digital Journal reported: “Britain’s sewers, especially those of London, have a problem: fatbergs. A fatberg is a congealed lump accumulating in a sewer system, with the term a portmanteau of “fat” plus “berg”, modelled on iceberg.”
Fatbergs occur when people flush solid waste like wet wipes and condoms down the toilet. The sewers combine with waste and oils. Fatbergs occur most often within slower moving parts of the sewer network. The largest on record was estimated to be twice the length of two Wembley football pitches and the glomerate of waste, fats and oils weighed 130 tonnes. This was dubbed the ‘Whitechapel Fatberg’.
READ MORE: Slices of London’s fatbergs on display
The development of the technology used to extract something tangibly of value from the waste by-product is relatively new and based on bioengineering.
Professor Stephen Wallace from the University of Edinburgh has told the BBC the process involves extracting the fatberg material and then heating it in a steamer. Bacteria are then added to the remnants of the fatberg. The specific bacteria have a short section of DNA inserted, to give the bacteria particular properties.
Different bacteria have bioremediation potential against fats, oils and grease, including Geobacter, as an anaerobic digestion process.
Over time the fatberg gradually disappears, as the bacteria digest it. The bioprocess produces the chemical with the pine-like smell.
An advantage of the process is the benefit to the environment as it involves the recycling of waste; producing a cosmetic more sustainably; and helping to address a pollutant under the streets of a city.
According to Wallace: “What the project shows is it’s possible to feed these bacteria in a way that makes products useful to everyday society. The fact you can make it from horrible sewer waste sort of still blows my mind – but it’s scientifically possible.”
The only potential issue with the process is that the creation of the bacteria – based on transposing genetic material from one organism to another – could lead to problems if the organisms should enter unintended environments, causing disruption to a different niche and paving the way for organisms more resistant to biocides. Hence, effective biosecurity protocols are key.
