Bioremediation

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.