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Biosphere Environmental Engineering Lab
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The lab explores how microorganisms and plants can be used for environmental protection and resource recovery.
AboutAbout the lab
Using the power of living organisms for environmental protection and resource recovery.
The Biosphere Environmental Engineering Lab studies technologies that use the power of organisms such as microorganisms and plants for environmental protection and remediation, as well as technologies for recovering resources and energy.
The lab works on resource production and water purification using aquatic plants and microalgae, metal recovery by microorganisms, remediation of recalcitrant pollutants, and the production of energy and valuable materials from wastewater and waste.
In its research on sewage and wastewater treatment and environmental remediation, the lab also conducts joint research with private companies, aiming to put the technologies it develops to practical use.
Students in the lab present their research results at academic conferences such as those of the Japan Society on Water Environment.
Key terms
- Microbiome
- The community of microorganisms that live symbiotically with aquatic plants and microalgae. The lab focuses on how this community functions.
- Metal biotechnology
- A technology that uses the metal metabolism of microorganisms to remove metals from wastewater and recover them as resources.
- Anaerobic digestion
- A process that produces methane gas from waste biomass and similar materials.
- Excess sludge
- The surplus activated sludge generated during sewage treatment.
NewsLab news
A master's student received the Best Oral Presentation Award at the 18th AETEE
A master's student received the Osaka University Engineering Association Award for fiscal 2025
A student received the Best Presentation Award at the 61st conference of the Japan Society on Water Treatment Biology
ResearchResearch themes
This lab develops technologies that use the activity of aquatic plants, microalgae, and microorganisms to purify water and to produce and recover resources and energy. Its research projects include biomass production from aquatic plants, metal recovery, remediation of recalcitrant pollutants, and conversion of wastewater and waste into energy.
*Illustrative imageResource production and water purification with aquatic plants and microalgae
Aquatic plants such as duckweed and microalgae grow by absorbing nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater, and they can also serve as a resource. The lab focuses on the microbial communities that live symbiotically with them (the microbiome) and studies how to increase the rate of biomass production.
*Illustrative imageRecovering metals from wastewater with microorganisms
The lab is developing metal biotechnology, which uses the metabolic functions of microorganisms to remove metals from wastewater and recover them as resources. Targeting selenium, which is used in semiconductor materials among other things, the lab searches the environment for microorganisms with excellent metabolic capabilities and works to establish techniques for applying them to wastewater.
*Illustrative imageMicroorganisms that degrade recalcitrant pollutants
The lab searches the environment for specialized microorganisms that can be used in sewage and wastewater treatment and in the remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater, and studies their properties, including their genetic characteristics. It also conducts joint research with private companies and has recently been studying cyclic ethers and chlorinated ethylenes.
*Illustrative imageTurning wastewater and waste into energy and valuable materials
The lab develops technologies that treat organic wastewater and waste as biomass resources and convert them into energy and valuable materials. Its work includes anaerobic digestion that efficiently produces methane even in the presence of high ammonia concentrations, and the production of biodegradable plastic (PHA) from excess sludge.
MembersFaculty
- ProfessorMichihiko Ike
- Associate ProfessorDaisuke Inoue
- Assistant ProfessorHidehiro Ishizawa
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Digesters - Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant” Kristian Bjornard from Baltimore, Maryland / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Resource production and water purification with aquatic plants and microalgae: “Lemna gibba Prague 2012 2” Karelj / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Recovering metals from wastewater with microorganisms: “Aeration tank activated sludge process STP Bengaluru India” Vraj Acharya, WELL Labs / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Microorganisms that degrade recalcitrant pollutants: “Soil bioremediation system” Vicente Neto / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Turning wastewater and waste into energy and valuable materials: “Dry - solid-state anaerobic digestion AD biogas plant” Thzorro77 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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