Bioremediation: towards a credible technology

Despite valuable basic knowledge on the mechanisms of pollutant bio-degradation, bioremediation has yet to be accepted as a routine treatment technology and the environmental industry is wary of applying biore mediation for the treatment of contaminated sites.

Abstract

Bioremediation is the technological process whereby biological systems are harnessed to effect the clean-up of environmental pollutants. Currently, microbial systems are most widely employed in bioremediation programmes, generally in the treatment of soils and waters contaminated with organic pollutants. Micro-organisms have a huge metabolic repertoire that enables them to degrade a panoply of organic pollutants and in many cases the complex biochemistry and molecular biology of the catabolic pathways involved have been unravelled (e.g. Gibson, 1984; Frantz et al. , 1987; Evans & Fuchs, 1988; Burlage et al. , 1989; Abramowicz, 1990; Assinder & Williams, 1990; Chaudhry & Chapalamadugu, 1991; Cerniglia, 1992; Knackmuss, 1996). Despite valuable basic knowledge on the mechanisms of pollutant bio-degradation, bioremediation has yet to be accepted as a routine treatment technology and the environmental industry is wary of applying bioremediation for the treatment of contaminated sites.