Bioremediation:An Overview

What is bioremediation?
Bioremediation is a waste management technique that involves the use of organisms to remove or [1] neutralize pollutants from a contaminated site. 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.

Types Of Bioremediation Technologies 1.On the basis of location

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

2.On the basis of the way of occurence

Bioremediation may occur on its own (natural attenuation or intrinsic bioremediation) or may only effectively occur through the addition of fertilizers, oxygen, etc., that help encourage the growth of the pollution-eating microbes within the medium (biostimulation)

3.On the basis of type of biological organism used

Bioremediation can occur through microorganisms,plants,or fungi. Bioremediation through plants is called phytoremediation.Plants have this intrinsic property to accumulate the toxic materials in their bodies(bioaccumulation),which can be used for the remediaton purpose.In case of fungi,the term is mycoremediation.

Industrial wastes degradable by microorganisms

INDUSTRIAL SOLID WASTE

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Solid wastes generated from industries include inorganic and organic materials. Some of the industrial waste can be recycled to produce energy. Other type of wastes is either land filled or incinerated. INDUSTRIAL WASTE Biodegradable - waste from food processing industry, slaughterhouses, dairy, chemicals, pickles, and textile mills. Non-biodegradable waste from collieries, refineries, and steel plants, lead and zinc plant, thermal power plant and paper industry. Hazardous - waste from refineries, metallurgical and electroplating industries, pickling, pharmaceutical, pesticide and dye.

In the industrial sector, the major generators of hazardous waste are the metal, chemical, paper, pesticide, dye, refining, and rubber goods industries. Direct exposure to chemicals in hazardous waste such as mercury and cyanide can be fatal. Some of the electronic waste (e-waste) generated by electronic equipments found in house, office etc. contain hazardous waste . Part of the hazardous waste includes mining wastes in which residues are obtained from extraction from earth. Some of scrap metals like bits and pieces of metal parts (e.g., bars, turnings, rods, sheets, wire) or metal pieces that may be combined together with bolts or soldering (e.g., radiators, scrap automobiles, railroad box cars).

Bioaugmentation
Bioaugmentation- the addition of necessary nutrients required to speed up the rate of degradation of a contaminant. Usually the steps involve studying the indigenous varieties present in the location to determine if biostimulation is possible. If the indigenous variety do not have the metabolic capability to perform the remediation process, exogenous varieties with such sophisticated pathways are introduced. Bioaugmentation is commonly used in municipal wastewater treatment to restart activated sludge bioreactors. Most cultures available contain a research based consortium of Microbial cultures, containing all necessary microorganisms (B. licheniformis, B. thurengensis, P. polymyxa, B. sterothemophilus, Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp., Flavobacterium, Arthrobacter, Pseudomonas,Streptomyces, Saccaromyces, Triphoderma, etc.). Whereas activated sludge systems are generally based on microorganisms like bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, rotifers and fungi capable to degrade bio degradable organic matter.

Disadvantages of bioremediation
1) The process of bioremediaiton is slow. Time required is in day to months. 2) Heavy metals are not easily removed. 3) For insitu bioremediation site must have soil with high permeability. 4) It does not remove all quantities of contaminants. 5) Substantial gaps exist in the understanding of microbial ecology, physiology and genetic expression and site expression and site engineering. A stronger scientific base is required for rational designing of process and success.

Commercial Oil Zapper

TERI(The Energy and Resources Institute) with headquarters located in New Delhi,has come up with a bioremediation product that has successfully been implemented in places polluted by oil sludge in different parts of india.They are calling it Oilzapper.

Basically,Oil zapper is a consortium of bacterial species that degrade oily sludge and crude oil.It is a mixture of 5 different bacterial species that are immobilized and mixed with a carrier material (powdered corncob).The mixture is packed into sterile polythene bag.The bags can then be opened at the site of pollution and it is left for the bacteria to grow. To treat 20000 tonnes of solid waste,we only need 200 tonnes of this product.

Pre-bioremediation: a site in Mehsana, Gujarat

Pre-bioremediation: a site in Mehsana, Gujarat

More than 5000 hectares of cropland contaminated with crude oil spills has already been reclaimed in different
parts of India and more than 26 000 tonnes of oily sludge successfully treated with Oilzapper

Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation (from Ancient Greek (phyto), meaning "plant", and Latin remedium, meaning "restoring balance") describes the treatment of environmental problems (bioremediation) through the use of plants that mitigate the environmental problem without the need to excavate the contaminant material and dispose of it elsewhere. Phytoremediation consists of mitigating pollutant concentrations in contaminated soils, water, or air, with plants able to contain, degrade, or eliminate metals, pesticides, solvents, explosives,crude oil and its derivatives, and various other contaminants from the media that contain them.

Mycoremediation
One of the primary roles of fungi in the ecosystem is decomposition, which is performed by the mycelium. The mycelium secretes extracellular enzymes and acids that break down lignin andcellulose, the two main building blocks of plant fiber. These are organic compounds composed of long chains of carbon and hydrogen, structurally similar to many organic pollutants. The key to mycoremediation is determining the right fungal species to target a specific pollutant. Certain strains have been reported to successfully degrade the nerve gases VX and sarin. In one conducted experiment, a plot of soil contaminated with diesel oil was inoculated with mycelia of oyster mushrooms; traditional bioremediation techniques (bacteria) were used on control plots.

After four weeks, more than 95% of many of the PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) had been reduced to non-toxic components in the mycelial-inoculated plots. It appears that the natural microbial community participates with the fungi to break down contaminants, eventually into carbon dioxide and water. Wood-degrading fungi are particularly effective in breaking down aromatic pollutants (toxic components of petroleum), as well as chlorinated compounds (certain persistent pesticides; Battelle, 2000). Two species of the Ecuadorian fungus Pestalotiopsis are capable of consuming Polyurethane in aerobic and anaerobic conditions such as found at the bottom of landfills

In situ and Ex situ bioremediation

Bioremediation techniques can be classified into In situ and Ex situ.

With in-situ techniques, the polluted site is treated in the place without excavation.

in ex-situ techniques; samples from polluted sites are collected and transferred to laboratory,and treated.