CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES

Micro organisms are used to produce many substance and enzymes of industrial importance such as citric acid dextran and cellulose . They are also used to produce substances that are important in medicine such as antibiotics steroids hormones and vaccines .
In mental extraction bacteria are being used increasingly to extract metals such as copper and uranium from low grade ores and waste residue from mines. The low grade ores are piled in a heap and soaked with a leaching solution containing rock dissolving bacteria . The bacterial action releases the mental ions from the rock . These ions dissolve to give a solution from which the pure metal is precipitated. This process provides about 10per cent of the copper mines in the United states.
Generally when micro organisms are used to produce substances the operating cost is greatly reduced. This in turn lowers the price of product .