BIOREMEDIATION

Presented by: Tayyeba

Iqbal
UW-15-BIS-BS-001
 DEFINITION
Bioremediation is a branch of
environmental biotechnology and it can
be defined as the use of living
organisms for the recovery/cleaning up
of a contaminated medium such as soil,
sediment, air, or water.
TYPES OF BIOREMEDIATION:
1- In situ bioremediation
In situ bioremediation is applied to eliminate the pollutants in contaminated soils and
groundwater. It is a superior method for the cleaning of contaminated environments because
it saves transportation costs and uses harmless microorganisms to eliminate the chemical
contaminations.
2-Ex situ bioremediation
The process of bioremediation here takes place somewhere out from contamination site, and
therefore requires transportation of contaminated soil or pumping of groundwater to the site
of bioremediation.
EXAMPLES

 The microorganism Dehalococcoides can reduce DCE and VC (that are

carcinogenic compounds) to the non-toxic product ethene.
Numerous members of Pseudomonas have also been modified with the lux
gene, but for the detection of the polyaromatic hydrocarbon naphthalene.
BIOREMEDIATION
TECHNIQUES
 BIOSPAR
GING
Biosparging involves the injection of air
under pressure below the water table to
increase groundwater oxygen
concentrations and enhance the rate of
biological degradation of contaminants
by naturally occurring bacteria.
BIOVENTI
NG
Bioventing is a promising new
technology that stimulates the
natural in-situ biodegradation of
any aerobically degradable
compounds within the soil by
providing oxygen to existing
soil microorganisms.
BIOAUGMENTATION
Bioaugmentation is the introduction of a group of natural microbial strains or a genetically
engineered variant to treat contaminated soil or water. It is commonly used in municipal
wastewater treatment to restart activated sludge bioreactors.
BIOPILING
Biopile treatment is a full-scale technology in which excavated soils are mixed with soil
amendments, placed on a treatment area, and bioremediated using forced aeration. The
contaminants are reduced to carbon dioxide and water.
BIOREACTORS
A slurry bioreactor may be defined as
a containment vessel and apparatus
used to create a three-phase (solid,
liquid, and gas) mixing condition to
increase the bioremediation rate of
soil bound and water-soluble
pollutants as a water slurry of the
contaminated soil and biomass
(usually indigenous microorganisms)
capable of degrading target
contaminants.
COMPOSTING
Composting is a technique that involves combining contaminated soil with nonhazardous
organic amendments such as manure or agricultural wastes. The presence of these organic
materials supports the develop-ment of a rich microbial population and elevated temperature
characteristic of composting.
 PHYTOREME
DIATION
Bioremediation by plants is called
phytoremediation.
It has five types:
Phytoextraction
phytotransformation
phytostabilization
phytodegradation
rhizofiltration
EXAMPLES
 Arabidopsis thaliana has been genetically modified to over express two bacterial
genes, arsC and g-ECS1. Essentially this genetically modified plant can take up
arsenate, detoxify it and store it.
 Tobacco plants have been genetically modified to express bacterial pentaerythritol
tetanite (PETN) reductase allowing these plants to take up high-energy compounds
and reduce them to non-explosive substances.
MYCOREMEDIATION
Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation
in which fungi-based technology is used to
decontaminate the environment.
 Mycorrhizal fungi, especially arbuscular
mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), can greatly improve
the phytoremediation capacity of some plants.
EXAMPLES
The shaggy ink cap (Coprinus comatus), a common edible north-hemisphere
mushroom, can be a very good bioindicator of mercury, and accumulate it in its
body, which can also be toxic to the consumer.
Mycoremediation has proven to be a cheap and effective remediation technology
for dyes such as malachite green, nigrosin and Congo red, a carcinogenic dye
recalcitrant to biodegradative processes with Aspergillus niger.
SPECIAL FEATURES OF
BIOREMEDIATION
 It is a natural process, it takes a little time.
 Bioremediation also requires a very less effort and can often be carried out on site.
 Bioremediation is also a cost effective process.
It does not use any dangerous chemicals.
Bioremediation changes the harmful chemicals into water and harmless gases.
LIMITATIONS OF
BIOREMEDIATION
The products of biodegradation may be more persistent or toxic than the parent
compound.
Bioremediation is limited to those compounds that are biodegradable.
Bioremediation often takes longer than other treatment options, such as excavation
and removal of soil or incineration.
It is difficult to extrapolate from pilot-scale studies to full-scale field operations.