Bioremediation - Asian Journal of Pharmacy and Life Science

Asian Journal of Pharmacy and Life Science ISSN 2231 – 4423Vol. 2 (2), April-June,2012BioventingBioventing is a promising new technology that stimulates the natural in-situ biodegradation of any aerobicallydegradablecompounds in NAPL within the soil by providing oxygen to existing soil microorganisms. In contrast tosoil-vapor extraction (SVE), bioventing uses low air-flow rates to provide only enough oxygen to sustain microbialactivity. Oxygen is most commonly supplied through direct air injection into residual contamination in soil by meansof wells. Adsorbed fuel residuals are biodegraded, and volatile compounds also are biodegraded as vapors moveslowly through biologically active soil.[5]BioaugmentationBioaugmentation is the introduction of a group of natural microbial strains or a genetically engineered variant to treatcontaminated soil or water. It is commonly used in municipal wastewater treatment to restart activated sludgebioreactors. Most cultures available contain a research based consortium of Microbial cultures, containing allnecessary microorganisms At sites where soil and groundwater are contaminated with chlorinated ethenes, such astetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene, bioaugmentation is used to ensure that the in situ microorganisms cancompletely degrade these contaminants to ethylene and chloride, which are non-toxic[6] Monitoring of this system isdifficultBiopilingBiopile treatment is a full-scale technology in which excavated soils are mixed with soil amendments, placed on atreatment area, and bioremediated using forced aeration. The contaminants are reduced to carbon dioxide and water.The basic biopile system includes a treatment bed, an aeration system, an irrigation/nutrient system and a leach atecollection system. Moisture, heat, nutrients, oxygen, and pH are controlled to enhance biodegradation. Theirrigation/nutrient system is buried under the soil to pass air and nutrients either by vacuum or positive pressure. Soilpiles can be up to 20 feet high and may be covered with plastic to control runoff, evaporation and volatilization, andto promote solar heating. If volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the soil volatilize into the air stream, the airleaving the soil may be treated to remove or destroy the VOCs before they are discharged into the atmosphere.Treatment time is typically 3 to 6 months [7]Ex-Situ BioremediationComposting is a process by which organic wastes are degraded by microorganisms, typically at elevatedtemperatures.Typical compost temperatures are in the range of 55° to 65° C. The increased temperatures result fromheat produced by microorganisms during the degradation of the organic material in the waste. Windrow compostinghas been demonstrated using the following basic steps. First, contaminated soils are excavated and screened toremove large rocks and debris [8,9]BioreactorsSlurry reactors or aqueous reactors are used for ex situ treatment of contaminated soil and water pumped up from acontaminated plume. Bioremediation in reactors involves the processing of contaminated solid material (soil,sediment, sludge) or water through an engineered containment system. A slurry bioreactor may be defined as acontainment vessel and apparatus used to create a three-phase (solid, liquid, and gas) mixing condition to increase thebioremediation rate of soil bound and water-soluble pollutants as a water slurry of the contaminated soil and biomass206 | P a g e Available online on www.ajpls.com Review Article