Bioremediation Approaches for Recalcitrant Pollutants

Abstract

The different chemical pollutants discharged by the industries to the environment can upset the delicate balance of the ecosystem. Bioremediation, the use of microorganisms and plants to remediate polluted environments, is a promising and growing area of environmental biotechnology. Bioremediation options encompass diverse types of biotechnological mechanisms that may lead to a target pollutant's mineralization, partial transformation, humification, or altered redox state. The use of extra cellular and/or cell-free enzymes has been also proposed as an innovative remediation technique. Perspectives and limitations to evolve and use this technology are critically discussed in this chapter with respect to the complexity of mixtures of xenobiotics often found in practice. Whereas the potential of bioremediation is substantial, its application has important limitations that are apparent from many examples and the authors feel that these limitations can be overcome only when adequate attention is directed to fundamental microbiological, chemical and engineering issues.