BIOREMEDIATION

Bioremediation is a waste management technique that involves the use of organisms to remove or neutralize pollutants from a contaminated site. According to the EPA, bioremediation is a “treatment that uses naturally occurring organisms to break down hazardous substances into less toxic or non toxic substances”.
Bioremediation means how we can apply living organism or matter to amend, control, prevent, or ameasurate or mitigate the degraded value in the environment.
According to Wikipedia,
“Bioremediation is a waste management technique that involves the use of organisms to remove or neutralize pollutants from a contaminated site.”
According to the EPA,
Bioremediation is a “treatment that uses naturally occurring organisms to break down hazardous substances into less toxic or non toxic substances.

HISTORY OF BIOREMEDIATION
Bioremediation was first discovered around 600 BC by the Romans. Although their versions of the process aren't as developed as todays, they were still able to use it. They used bioremediation to clean their waste water. Much later, in the 1960's, bio-remediation was officially invented by George Robinson. He had experimented with microbes inside of polluted glass jars. More research was conducted on these microbes to expand their capabilities. It wasn't until 1972 when these microbes were put to the test in a real life situation. Scientists used them to try and clean out fuel tanks on the RMS Queen Mary. The attempt was successful and ever since 1972, humans have been using and improving these microbes. They are making them more powerful and efficient, as well as using them to help clean oil spills and there contamination situations. Today, thanks to improvements on the microbes, they are now much more versatile than before. They have improved greatly since they were first discovered and will continue to improve under scientific research.
Bioremediation is the use of microbes to clean up contaminated soil and groundwater. Microbes are very small organisms, such as bacteria, that live naturally in the environment. Bioremediation stimulates the growth of certain microbes that use contaminants as a source of food and energy. Contaminants treated using bioremediation include oil and other petroleum products, solvents, and pesticides.

Bioremediation may occur on its own (natural attenuation or intrinsic bioremediation) or may only effectively occur through the addition of fertilizers, oxygen, etc., that help encourage the growth of the pollution-eating microbes within the medium (biostimulation). For example, the US Army Corps of Engineers demonstrated that windrowing and aeration of petroleum-contaminated soils enhanced bioremediation using the technique of land farming. Microorganisms used to perform the function of bioremediation are known as bioremediators.
Bioremediation refers to the use of microorganisms to degrade contaminants that pose environmental and human risks. Bioremediation processes typically involve the actions of many different microbes acting in parallel or sequence to complete the degradation process. Both in situ (in place) and ex situ (removal and treatment in another place) remediation approaches are used. The versatility of microbes to degrade a vast array of pollutants makes bioremediation a technology that can be applied in different soil conditions. Though it can be inexpensive and in situ approaches can reduce disruptive engineering practices, bioremediation is still not a common practice.

To be continue........

Written by
Temitope Fasiku
Environmental Health Tutor