Bioremediation - Bioremediation Of Spilled Hydrocarbons, Bioremediation Of Metal Pollution, Bioremediation Of Acidification, Bioremediation Of Sewage
microorganisms toxic environmental chemicals
Bioremediation is a type of biotechnology in which living organisms or ecological processes are utilized to deal with some environmental problem. The most common use of bioremediation is to metabolically break down or otherwise remove toxic chemicals before or after they have been discharged into the environment. In such uses, bioremediation takes advantage of the fact that certain microorganisms can utilize toxic chemicals as metabolic substrates, in the process rendering them into simpler, less toxic compounds. Bioremediation is a relatively new and actively developing technology.
In general, bioremediation methodologies focus on: (1) enhancing the abundance of certain species or groups of microorganisms that can metabolize toxic chemicals (this is also known as bioaugmentation) and/or (2) optimizing environmental conditions for the actions of these organisms (also known as biostimulation). Bioaugmentation may involve the deliberate addition of strains or species of microorganisms that are specifically effective at treating particular toxic chemicals, but are not indigenous to or abundant in the treatment area. Biostimulation usually involves fertilization, aeration, or irrigation in order to decrease the importance of environmental factors in limiting the activity of microorganisms. Biostimulation focuses on rapidly increasing the abundance of naturally occurring, ubiquitous microorganisms capable of dealing with certain types of environmental problems.
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Accidental spills of petroleum or other hydrocarbons on land and water are regrettable but frequent occurrences. Such spills can range in size from a few gallons that may be spilled during refueling to enormous spillages of millions of tons as occurred to both the sea and land during the Gulf War of 1991. Once spilled, petroleum and its various refined products can be persistent environmental cont…
Metals are common pollutants of water and land because they are emitted by many industrial, agricultural, and domestic sources. In some situations, organisms or ecological processes can be successfully utilized to concentrate metals that are dispersed in the environment, especially in water. The metals can then be removed from the system by harvesting the organisms. For example, metal polluted was…
In some situations, artificial wetlands can be engineered to treat acidic waters associated with coal mining or other sources of acidity. Coal mining disturbs soil and fractures rocks exposing large quantities of pyritic sulfur to atmospheric oxygen. Under such conditions, certain species of bacteria oxidize the sulfide of the mineral pyrites to sulfate, generating large quantities of acidity in t…
Many of the chemicals commonly used in industry or agriculture, or produced as by-products of industrial processes are persistent poisons, such as DDT and other organochlorines that are dangerous to humans and wildlife and that do not readily breakdown under natural processes. In most cases, contaminated soils would be burned and then hauled away for storage as hazardous waste. However, new biorem…
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