Bioremediation and phytoremediation

1. BIOREMEDIATION AND
PHYTOREMEDIATION

2. Bioremediation
• Bioremediation can be defined as any process
that uses microorganisms, fungi, green plants
or their enzymes to return the natural
environment altered by contaminants to its
original condition.

3. Phytoremediation
• Phytoremediation can be defined as any
process that uses green plants or their
enzymes to return the natural environment
altered by contaminants to its original
condition.

4. Bioremediation
• Cleanup of oil spills by the addition of nitrate
and/or sulfate fertilizers to facilitate the
decomposition of crude oil by indigenous or
exogenous bacteria.
• To attack specific soil contaminants, such as
degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons by
bacteria.

6. How Does Bioremediation Work?
Uses naturally occurring microorganisms
to break down hazardous substances into
less toxic or nontoxic substances.

7. Overview and applications
• Naturally occurring bioremediation and
phytoremediation have been used for centuries
(desalination of agricultural land by
phytoextraction).
• Bioremediation technology using microorganisms
was reportedly invented by George M. Robinson.
He was the assistant county petroleum engineer
for Santa Maria, California. During the 1960s, he
spent his spare time experimenting with dirty jars
and various mixes of microbes.

8. Overview and applications
• Bioremediation 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.
• Some examples of bioremediation technologies
are bioventing, landfarming, bioreactor,
composting, bioaugmentation, rhizofiltration, and
biostimulation.

10. Overview and applications
• Naturally occurring bioremediation: natural
attenuation or intrinsic bioremediation
• Bioremediation via the addition of fertilizers
to increase the bioavailability within the
medium: biostimulation
• Addition of matched microbe strains to the
medium to enhance the resident microbe
population's ability to break down
contaminants: bioaugmentation

12. Why Bioremediation?
ADVANTAGES
AND
DISADVANTAGES

13. Advantages
 The cost of the phytoremediation is lower than that of traditional
processes both in situ and ex situ
 Can be employed in areas that are inaccessible without
excavation
 The plants can be easily monitored
 The possibility of the recovery and re-use of valuable metals (by
companies specializing in “phyto mining”)
 It is potentially “the least harmful” method because it uses
naturally occurring organisms and preserves the environment in
a more natural state

14. Disadvantages
• Like any treatment technology, bioremediation is
not without its limitations and disadvantages,
• However, the most important being the lack of
well-documented field demonstrations that show
the effectiveness of the technology and what, if
any, are the long term effects of this treatment
on water ground system.

15. • Some chemicals, e.g., highly
chlorinated compounds and metals, are
not readily amenable to biological
degradation. In addition, for some
chemicals, microbial degradation may
lead to the production of more toxic or
mobile substances than the parent
thus, if bioremediation is applied
without understanding of the microbial
processes involved, it could lead to a
worse situation than already exists in
some cases.

16. Environmental factors effecting
bioremediation
• The main factors influencing in situ contaminant bioremediation include:
•  oxygen
•  nutrients
•  moisture content
•  pH
•  redox potential
•  temperature
•  bioavailability
• These factors can be manipulated in order to optimize the correct
conditions.

17. The potential advantages of applying biodegradation
principles to the cleanup of contaminated sites include:
• 1. Can be done on site.
• 2. Keeps site disruption to a minimum (very important
in beaches)
• 3. Using a in situ Bioremediation the risk of being
exposed to the contaminant or pollutant is eliminated.As
there is minimal excavation , therefore contact is
reduced.

18. •5. Eliminates transportation costs and liabilities
•6. Can be coupled with other treatment techniques into a treatment train.
•7. The costs should be lower than other systems with more expensive input
requirements.
•8. The process of bioremediation is a natural biological process therefore there is a
minimal environmental impact from the treatment process.There re harmless end products
such as carbon dioxide, water and fatty acids upon completion of the process.

19. RESEARCH BARRIERS
1.The inexistence of environmental laws and
regulations to the formation of a waste treatment
market.
2.The view, that pollution control costs industry
money & makes industry less competitive in world
markets.
3.Research efforts are generally minimal in many
countries & the diffusion of research results into
commercial applications is negligible (compared to
the other sector affected by technology)
4.Get the knowledge in several areas of science
.(Microbial physiology, biochemistry ,genetics,
ecology …….)

20. 2.TECHNICAL BARRIERS
1.The speed of bioremediation.
2. Bioremediation must be specifically
tailored to each polluted site.It require
individualized attention.
3.There are no official scientific measures
for evaluating the success or failure of
bioremediation.

21. 3.ECONOMIC BARRIERS
1.The majority of the firms are
small & lack sufficient capital to
finance sophisticated research &
product development programs.
2.The information is kept by
trade secrets & intellectual
protection.
3.Experienced personnel are in
short supply.
4.University programs are
now being establishing for
bioremediation specialists.

22. REGULATORY BARRIERS
1.Cleanup standards. How clean is clean? The
achievable endpoint for biodegradation may be
limited for specific pollutants.
2.Standards are still under development.
3.Law established after pollution problem

23. Thank You for Your Attention 