Bioremediation Flashcards
Bioremediation
The use of a biological process (via plants or microorganisms) to clean up a polluted environmental area
Two conventional methods to remediate a site
Cap and contain
dig it up
Bioaugmentation
Naturally occurring microbes are added to site
Biostimulation
Modification of a site to enhance growth of microbes
Environmental problems Addressed by bioremediation
Oil spills, contaminated ground water, Tailing ponds
Advantages
Cost effective, safe, natural, non invasive preformed in situ.
Transforms pollutants not transferring
Public acceptance
Disadvantages
Not useful in open systems (bays, lakes) Microbes are limited by there environments
The ability to degrade the pollutants varies with each microbe
Biological Oxygen demand
is a chemical procedure for determining how fast a biological organisms use up oxygen in a body of water
Biopiles
ex-situ aeration of soil
Bioventing
In-situ aeration of sil
Cometabolism
compounds not utilized for growth or energy are nevertheless transformed to other products by microorganisms
recalcitrance
complete resistance to biodegradation
