Kaan Poyraz

Civil Engineering – Environmental Engineering

BioremediationBioremediation can be defined as any

process that uses microorganisms, fungi, green plants or their enzymes to return the natural environment altered by contaminants to its original condition.

BioremediationCleanup of oil spills by the addition of nitrate

and/or sulfate fertilizers to facilitate the decomposition of crude oil by indigenous or exogenous bacteria.

To attack specific soil contaminants, such as degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons by bacteria.

Overview and applicationsNaturally occurring bioremediation and

phytoremediation have been used for centuries (desalination of agricultural land by phytoextraction).

Bioremediation technology using microorganisms was reportedly invented by George M. Robinson. He was the assistant county petroleum engineer for Santa Maria, California. During the 1960s, he spent his spare time experimenting with dirty jars and various mixes of microbes.

Overview and applicationsBioremediation technologies can be generally

classified as in situ or ex situ. In situ bioremediation involves treating the

contaminated material at the site while ex situ involves the removal of the contaminated material to be treated elsewhere.

Some examples of bioremediation technologies are bioventing, landfarming, bioreactor, composting, bioaugmentation, rhizofiltration, and biostimulation.

Overview and applicationsNaturally occurring bioremediation: natural

attenuation or intrinsic bioremediationBioremediation via the addition of fertilizers

to increase the bioavailability within the medium: biostimulation

Addition of matched microbe strains to the medium to enhance the resident microbe population's ability to break down contaminants: bioaugmentation

Overview and applicationsHeavy metals such as cadmium and lead are

not readily absorbed or captured by organisms. The assimilation of metals such as mercury into the food chain may worsen matters.

Phytoremediation is useful in these situations, because natural plants or transgenic plants are able to bioaccumulate these toxins in their above-ground parts, which are then harvested for removal.

Advantagesthe cost of the phytoremediation is lower than that of

traditional processes both in situ and ex situ

can be employed in areas that are inaccessible without excavation

the plants can be easily monitored

the possibility of the recovery and re-use of valuable metals (by companies specializing in “phyto mining”)

it is potentially “the least harmful” method because it uses naturally occurring organisms and preserves the environment in a more natural state

References1) http://www.terranovabiosystems.com/science/remediation-resources.html2) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V24-

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3) Meagher, RB (2000). "Phytoremediation of toxic elemental and organic pollutants". Current Opinion in Plant Biology 3 (2): 153–162. doi:10.1016/S1369-5266(99)00054-0. PMID 10712958.

4) Diaz E (editor). (2008). Microbial Biodegradation: Genomics and Molecular Biology (1st ed.). Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-17-2.

5) http://www.horizonpress.com/biod. 6) Lovley, DR (2003). "Cleaning up with genomics: applying molecular

biology to bioremediation". Nature Reviews. Microbiology. 1 (1): 35 – 44. doi:10.1038/nrmicro731. PMID 15040178.

7) Brim H, McFarlan SC, Fredrickson JK, Minton KW, Zhai M, Wackett LP, Daly MJ (2000). "Engineering Deinococcus radiodurans for metal remediation in radioactive mixed waste environments". Nature Biotechnology 18 (1): 85 – 90. doi:10.1038/71986. PMID 10625398.

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