Environmental Biotechnology Multiple Choice Questions on “Problem Soil Management & Remediation – Intensive and Extensive Technologies”.
1. Biological method of soil remediation includes __________ of contaminants.
a) Vitrification
b) Transformation
c) Bio-leaching
d) Removal
Answer: b
Clarification: Biological method of soil remediation is done by transformation of contaminants to less toxic form, Vitrification is the use of high temperature that leads to fusion of contaminants, bio-leaching is a process used for extraction of metals and does not remove contaminants, in this process transformation of contaminants is more preferred.
2. Which of the following is a drawback of biological method of soil remediation?
a) Contaminants may not be conducive
b) Residual effects of human activities
c) Biological contaminants
d) Non-Biological contaminants
Answer: a
Clarification: Biological method of soil remediation is useful for a wide range of contaminants but some of them may not be removed, residual effects of human activities lead to environmental pollution, biological and non-biological contaminates are a part of environment.
3. What is the major advantage of biological method of soil remediation?
a) Destruction of organic compound
b) Don’t remove organic compounds
c) Adds toxic compounds
d) Infects the soil
Answer: b
Clarification: Biological method of soil remediation leads to destruction of a lot of organic compounds present in the soil, it removes organic compounds, it neither infect the soil nor adds any toxic compounds.
4. What is the significance of green image?
a) Bio-magnification
b) Soil remediation using biological method
c) Soil remediation using chemical method
d) lyophilization
Answer: b
Clarification: Soil remediation using biological method is non-toxic to the environment, hence, referred to as green image, soil- remediation using chemical method requires comparatively higher temperature and pressure and is not very environment friendly, lyophilization is a process of freeze drying, Bio-magnification is the process by which toxic substances get deposited in the food chain.
5. Which of the following might require secondary treatment?
a) Biological method
b) Chemical method
c) Quorum quenching
d) Lyophilization
Answer: b
Clarification: Biological method doesn’t require any secondary treatment but chemical method does, as the contaminants might not be treated completely in the primary treatment, quorum quenching leads to inhibition of quorum sensing and lyophilization is a process of freeze drying.
6. Increasing the cost of landfill is called as __________
a) Landfill tax
b) Price hike
c) Sewage tax
d) Encapsulation
Answer: a
Clarification: Landfill tax is a type of tax imposed by the government to increase the cost of landfills, price hike is a general term used for rise in cost of a product, encapsulation is entrapment of something, Sewage tax is a tax paid for public sewage systems.
7. Which of the following uses high temperature to fuse contaminants?
a) Chemical Testing method
b) Most probable number method
c) Dissolved Oxygen method
d) Vitrification
Answer: d
Clarification: Vitrification is a soil remediation method uses high temperature to fuse contaminants, most probable number method is used to detect the presence of E.coli which is a fecal coliform bacteria, chemical testing method detects the presence of ammonia, nitrate, pH or any chemical parameter, dissolved oxygen method measures level of dissolved oxygen.
8. The destruction of contaminants using high temperature is done by _______
a) Quorum sensing
b) Quorum quenching
c) Quorum requirement
d) Thermal method
Answer: d
Clarification: Thermal method uses high temperature conditions to destroy the contaminants, Quorum sensing is the production of chemical signals produced in response to cell population to modulate it’s own growth, quorum quenching leads to inhibition of quorum sensing, quorum requirement is the minimum number of organisms required to form a colony.
9. On-site soil remediation is called as ________
a) Acidification
b) Conformational protection
c) Global warming
d) In-situ technique
Answer: d
Clarification: In-situ technique refers to on-site treatment of soil contaminants, Nitrogenase is protected by complexing with a specific leg-hemoglobin protein known as conformational protection, acidification leads to decrease in pH, global warming leads to increase in temperature.
10. Off-site soil remediation is called as ________
a) Ex-situ technique
b) Conformational protection
c) Global warming
d) In-situ technique
Answer: d
Clarification: Ex-situ technique refers to off-site treatment of soil contaminants by removing the soil from the site, In-situ technique refers to on-site treatment of soil contaminants, Nitrogenase is protected by complexing with a specific leg-hemoglobin protein known as conformational protection, global warming leads to increase in temperature.
11. Which of the following technique is expensive?
a) Ex-Situ soil remediation
b) Methanogenesis
c) Co2 emission
d) Acetogenesis
Answer: a
Clarification: Ex-Situ soil remediation process is expensive as it includes transport costs, methanogensis results in production of methane gas by bacteria, Co2 is an environment temperature modulator, Acetogenesis forms acetate from Co2, hence, inexpensive.
12. High energy intervention is referred as ________
a) HPLC
b) Intensive technologies
c) PAM
d) Optical Microscopy
Answer: b
Clarification: High energy intervention is referred to as intensive technologies as it requires the use of sophisticated methods, HPLC is a chromatographic technique, PAM is a chlorophyll flurometer, Optical Microscopy provides limited cell view.
13. Low energy intervention is referred as ________
a) Extensive methods
b) Intensive technologies
c) PAM
d) Optical Microscopy
Answer: a
Clarification: Extensive methods uses Low energy interventions as it uses lesser sophisticated methods, high energy intervention uses high sophisticated methods, PAM is a chlorophyll flurometer, Optical Microscopy provides limited cell view.
14. Which of the following is an example of extensive method?
a) Soil washing
b) Cropping of plants that accumulate heavy metals
c) Global warming
d) Carbonate equilibrium
Answer: b
Clarification: Cropping of plants that accumulate heavy metals doesn’t consider speed as a neccesity, hence comes under extensive methods, Soil washing is a method of intensive technologies, global warming leads to increase in temperature, carbonate equilibrium controls atmospheric CO.