WHAT IS BIO-REMEDIATION?
Bio-Remediation is the process of using naturally occurring, safe and beneficial micro-organisms to degrade environmentally harmful contaminants and turn them into non-toxic compounds. In particular, these organisms will break down most petroleum hydrocarbons and transform them into carbon dioxide (CO2) & water. Further, this natural process will produce valuable bio-nutrients that can be utilized by both plant and aquatic life. The process of Bio-Remediation is listed as one of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) innovative technologies.
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. Bioremediation may be employed to attack specific soil contaminants, such as degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons by bacteria. An example of a more general approach is the cleanup of oil spills by the addition of nitrate and/or sulfate fertilisers to facilitate the decomposition of crude oil by indigenous or exogenous bacteria.
