Objectives

• Bioremediation
• Historical Perspective
• How it works?
• Essential Factors for Microbial Bioremediation
• Bioremediation Methods & Types
• Microbes involved in Bioremediation
• Application of Bioremediation
• Advantages & Disadvantages of Bioremediation
• Conclusion
• Bioremediation is a branch of biotechnology employing the
use of living organisms like microbes and bacteria to remove
contaminants, pollutants, and toxins from soil and
water. Bioremediation may be used to clean up environmental
problems such as oil spills, or contaminated groundwater

• "Remediate" means to solve a problem, and "bio- remediate"

means to use biological organisms to solvean environmental
problem such as contaminated soil or groundwater.

• Bioremediation means to use a biological remedy to clean up

contamination.

• According to the EPA, bioremediation is a “treatment that uses

naturally occurring organisms to break down hazardous
substances into less toxic or non toxic substances”.
I. ~1900 Advent of biological processes to treat
organics derived from human or animal wastes (and
the sludges produced)
II. ~1950 Approaches to extend wastewater treatment to
industrial wastes
III. ~1960 Investigations into the bioremediation of
synthetic chemicals in wastewaters
IV. ~1970 Application in hydrocarbon contamination
such as oil spills and petroleum in groundwater
V. ~1980 Investigations of bioremediation applications
for substituted organics
VI. ~1990 Natural Attenuation of ’70 and ’90, and the
development of barrier approaches
VII.~2000 High-rate in situ bioremediation; source zone
reduction; bio-augmentation
 How does it work ?
• Waste material is examined & certain
bacteria are isolated based on their
efficacy at digesting and converting
the waste.
• Indigenous or local bacteria is to be
used.
• The bacteria then go through several
steps of cultures and process for
performance testing.
• The suitable bacteria are placed
back in the waste environment.
• They grow & thrive & in the process
digest &
convert the waste into Carbon dioxide
& water.
• The right temperature, nutrients, and
food also must be present.
• Conditions may be improved
by adding “amendments.”
 Bioremediation is based on the idea
that organisms are capable to uptake things
from the environment and use it as food
to enhance their growth and metabolism.

With this unique characteristic lay the fun-

damental principle of bioremediation, to use
microorganism to take in contaminated sub-
stances from the environment and convert it
to a nontoxic form.

Bacteria, protista and fungi are well

known for degrading Complex molecules
and transform the product into part of their
metabolism
ESSENTIAL FACTORS FOR MICROBIAL REMEDIATION

Factor Desired Conditions

Suitable kinds of organisms
Microbial population that can biodegrade all of
the contaminants

Enough to support aerobic bio-

Oxygen degradion (about 2% oxygen in
the gas phase or 0.4 mg/liter in
the soilwater)
Water Soil moisture should be from 50–
70% ofthe water holding capacity of
the soil
Nutrients Nitrogen, phosphorus,sulphur, and
other nutrients to support good
microbial growth
Temperature Appropriate temperatures for
microbial growth (0–40˚C)
pH Best range is from 6.5 to 7.5
1. Microbes releases enzyme to break down the contaminant into
digestible pieces.
2. The contaminant of organic substances ingest and digest as food
along with other energy source by the cell.

Degrade organic substances that are hazardous to living organisms and degr-
ade the organic contaminants into inert products. So only harmless biological
Wastes are all that remain of the contaminant.
 Bioremediation

In situ Bioremediation Ex situ Bioremediation


-At the site
-treatment of contaminated
material in place
-Ex – Benzene, Toluene, TNT,2,4D
-only certain types of
soils can be
bioremediated in-situ
-complete degradation is often
difficult to achieve
-Away from site
-Techniques involve physical
removal of the contaminated
material for treatment process
-Ex-Bio-piles, soil
treatment unit,
Compost pile , Windrows
etc. &
-use of bioreactors to process the
material
in a highly controlled environment.
Involve a direct approach for the microbial degradation of
xenobiotics at the sites of pollution(soil , ground , water)

In Situ Bioremediation

Intrinsic Bioremediation Engineered in situ Bioremediation

The inherent metabolic ability of the
Microorganisms to degrade certain
pollutants
The inherent ability of the microorganisms
for bioremediation is generally slow and
limited. However ,by using suitable physico-
Chemical means(good nutrient and O2
supply),the Bioremediation process can be
engineered for efficient degradation of
pollutants.
The waste or toxic materials can be collected from the polluted sites and
the Bioremediation with the requisite microorganisms can be carried out
at designed Places.
STRATEGIES
RELEASE OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Enormous quantities of organic & inorganic compounds are released into the environment
each year as a result of human activities.

The release may be:-

 Deliberate and well regulated (industrial emissions)
 Accidental and largely unavoidable (chemical/oil spills
 US EPA estimated that in 1980 at least 57 millions metric tons of the total waste can
be categorized into three general groups:
Heavy metal, Pb, Cd, Ni and Be can accumulate in
various organs, interfere with normal enzymatic reactions
and cause disease including cancer
Chlorinated hydrocarbons, also known as organochloride
including pesticides and other organic compounds such
as PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls)
Nuclear waste including radioactive material such as
plutonium which are dangerous for thousands of years
Petroleum and its products are hydrocarbons. These two have much economic
importance. Oils constitute a variety of hydrocarbons viz., xylanes,
naphthalenes, octanes, camphor, etc. For example ,during cold war between
Iraq and America, million tons of petroleum was leaked into sea which
resulted in fish mortality. The microorganism which are capable of degrading
petroleum includes pseudomonas ,various corynebacteria, mycobacteria, and
some yeasts. However there are two methods for bioremediation of
hydrocarbons/oil spills, by using mixture of bacteria, and using genetically
engineered microbial strains.
The Ennore oil spill occurred in outside the Kamarajar Port in Ennore near Chennai in Tamil Nadu (INDIA)
On 28, January , 2017
• The oil eating microbes simply oxidize the hydro-carbon, thus carbon
dioxide and water released.
• Oil floats on water as it is lighter than water. Oxygen is available on
the gulf surface . So it can break apart the hydrocarbons easily.
• After eating up the surface oil layer, microbes will die due to
deficiency of oil on the gulf surface.
• In this process the microbes can make the gulf environment oil free
with out leaving any side affect.
 The main advantages of bioremedation
are :-

 No additional disposal costs

 Low maintenance
 Uses natural process
 Cheapest of all the methods of pollutant
removal
 The process can be done on the site with
minimum amount of space and
equipment.
The main disadvantages of bioremedation are :-
 It does not suit all situations, it is site specific.
 The process of bioremediation is generally
a slow process. It can take few months as long as few years
 Failure to meet targets.
 Poor management
 Climate issue.
 There are some concerns that the products of
biodegradation may be more persistent or toxic than
the parent compound.
Bioremediation is a powerful tool to clean up contaminated sites.

 Regardless of which aspect is used, It offers a safer and more cost effective ways to
clean up contaminated sites

 Bioremediation utilizes microbes such as bacteria, fungi, yeast, algae and some
plants.

 Bioremediation is highly effective system, if proper conditions are maintained pH,

temperature, nutrients.

 Its advantages generally outnumber its disadvantages owning to the number of

sites that have been cleaned up using this method and its increasing popularity

 By aiding natural selection and making small adjustments of the local environment
to encourage growth of remediating microbes the process not only lowers the
expenses but also very environment friendly.
"Terra Nova's Environmental Remediation Resuources"
Terranovabiosystems.com. 2009-08-31. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
Meagher, RB (2000).

 http://otbl.co.in/Bioremediation.php

http://dbtindia.gov.in/schemes-programmes/research-development/energy-
environment-and-bio-resource-based-applications-0 .

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258630253_Chapter_1_An_Introduc
tion_to_Bioremediation

 http://www.icontrolpollution.com/articles/bioremediation--an-overview-
.php?aid=37408

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-
sciences/bioremediation

 https://enviroliteracy.org/environment-society/waste-
management/bioremediation/