Bioremediation Technologies for Ecology
Introduction:
One of the major problems the industrialized world is facing today is the contamination of soil, groundwater, sediments, surface water and air with hazardous and toxic chemicals. The long-term production and use of different petroleum derivatives have caused widespreadcontamination of soil around facilities handling them (Barbee et al., 1992). The need to remedy these contaminated environments has led to the development of a number of technologies such as bioremediation (Head, 1998), that aim at the destruction and detoxificationof contaminants rather than at their disposal. Oil contamination of soil and water from industrial sources and other activities are producing ecological disasters and addressing public concerns. Among a variety of the remediation methods, bioremediation has been recognized as an efficient, economic, versatile, and environmentally sound solution (Margesin and Schinner, 2001). There are two main streams in bioremediation technologies: bioaugmentation by adding microorganisms and biostimulation by introducing nutrients or biosurfactant (Whang et al., 2008). Bioaugmentation can be illustrated as amending contaminated soil or sludge with compost mixture (Balba et al., 1998; Kriipsalu et al., 2007) and introducing commercial bacterial consortia (Jurgensen et al., 2000). In addition to bacteria, the feasibility of bioaugmentation with fungi found evident in reclamation of organic-pollutants or petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated sites (Pointing, 2001; Mancera-Lopez et al., 2008). Successful bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil remain a challenge after decades (Das and Mukherjee, 2007), but molecular technologies now allow successful profiling of soil microbial communities. The ecological “black box” used to be shortfalls in the understanding of microbial community dynamics in remediation systems is no longer existed (Andrewand Mark, 2000).
In situ bioremediation using indigenous microorganisms is by far the most
One of the major problems the industrialized world is facing today is the contamination of soil, groundwater, sediments, surface water and air with hazardous and toxic chemicals. The long-term production and use of different petroleum derivatives have caused widespreadcontamination of soil around facilities handling them (Barbee et al., 1992). The need to remedy these contaminated environments has led to the development of a number of technologies such as bioremediation (Head, 1998), that aim at the destruction and detoxificationof contaminants rather than at their disposal. Oil contamination of soil and water from industrial sources and other activities are producing ecological disasters and addressing public concerns. Among a variety of the remediation methods, bioremediation has been recognized as an efficient, economic, versatile, and environmentally sound solution (Margesin and Schinner, 2001). There are two main streams in bioremediation technologies: bioaugmentation by adding microorganisms and biostimulation by introducing nutrients or biosurfactant (Whang et al., 2008). Bioaugmentation can be illustrated as amending contaminated soil or sludge with compost mixture (Balba et al., 1998; Kriipsalu et al., 2007) and introducing commercial bacterial consortia (Jurgensen et al., 2000). In addition to bacteria, the feasibility of bioaugmentation with fungi found evident in reclamation of organic-pollutants or petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated sites (Pointing, 2001; Mancera-Lopez et al., 2008). Successful bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil remain a challenge after decades (Das and Mukherjee, 2007), but molecular technologies now allow successful profiling of soil microbial communities. The ecological “black box” used to be shortfalls in the understanding of microbial community dynamics in remediation systems is no longer existed (Andrewand Mark, 2000).
In situ bioremediation using indigenous microorganisms is by far the most