Biotreatment

Biotreatment is the processing of waste or hazardous substance using living organisms such as bacteria, fungi or protozoa. It is an environmentally friendly, relatively simple and cost-effective alternative to physico-chemical clean-up options.

Oil Biodegradation

Petroleum oil is toxic for most life forms and can cause pollution of the environment. Microbial biodegradation can be employed to degrade the oil.[1]

Waste Biotreatment

Confined environments, such as bioreactors, have been engineered to overcome the physical, chemical and biological limiting factors of biotreatment processes in highly controlled systems. The great versatility in the design of confined environments allows the treatment of a wide range of wastes under optimized conditions. Microorganisms with a variety of genomes and expressed transcripts and proteins can be used. Several high-throughput techniques originally developed for medical studies can be applied to assess biotreatment in confined environments.[2]

Ex-situ Bioremediation of Contaminated Soils

Although in-situ bioremediation technologies for the treatment of contaminated soils are economically attractive, ex-situ approaches are more often used for surface contaminated soils (typical depths less than 5 m) since they allow a much tighter control of the bioremediation process and provide better estimates of the residual contamination at the end of the treatment period. Ex-situ bioremediation is the method of choice for hot spot treatment if they are reasonably accessible. Classical ex-situ technologies include Landfarming, Composting, Biopiling and Slurry-phase bioremediation. Ex-situ bioremediation typically refers to the methods applied for the remediation of excavated contaminated soils. Besides slurry-phase bioremediation where the soil is mixed with water and other nutrients in mechanically agitated bioreactors, ex-situ bioremediation includes solid phase bioremediation that covers the techniques of landfarming and the various forms of composting, namely windrows, biopiles and in-vessel composting.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Martins VAP et al. (2008). "Genomic Insights into Oil Biodegradation in Marine Systems". Microbial Biodegradation: Genomics and Molecular Biology. Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-17-2.
  2. ↑ Stenuit B et al. (2008). "High-Throughput Approaches to Analyze Waste Biotreatmentin Confined Environments". Microbial Biodegradation: Genomics and Molecular Biology. Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-17-2.
  3. ↑ Koukkou, A-I (editor) (2011). Microbial Bioremediation of Non-metals: Current Research. Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-83-7.