BioRemediationGroup.org is a discussion forum for bioremediation science
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The Biogroup Home Page
Description
The BioGroup includes over 2,400 members worldwide, including environmental consultants, industry representatives, regulators, researchers, educators, students, and others with diverse backgrounds in education and experience. Due to the complex biogeochemical processes that control biotransformation, BioGroup membership is open to environmental engineers, hydrogeologists, soil scientists, microbiologists, environmental chemists, and all who wish to contribute to this important topic. For information on joining the BioGroup, please select "Membership Info". For member comments about the BioGroup, please select "Member Comments".
Bioremediation of unconsolidated materials, bedrock, groundwater, and other media contaminated with synthetic organic/inorganic compounds is an emerging technology that can cost-effectively treat many sites. Bioremediation is defined by the American Academy of Microbiology as "the use of living organisms to reduce or eliminate environmental hazards resulting from accumulations of toxic chemicals and other hazardous wastes" (Gibson and Sayler, 1992). The technology is approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Canada, and other regulatory agencies worldwide. Applied research is underway at public and private facilities worldwide. Links to numerous research facilities are included at BioLinks.
Intrinsic (passive) bioremediation of many synthetic organic compounds is carried out by indigenous microorganisms, principally heterotrophic bacteria, that transform contaminants to intermediate products or innocuous end products, or immobilize them. In many cases, contaminants such as petroleum hydrocarbons serve as sources of organic carbon and electron donors (assimilation). In other metabolic processes, contaminants such as trichloroethene may serve as electron acceptors (reductive dehalogenation), or may be transformed by fortuitous co-metabolic processes that offer no added benefit to microbes from the reactions (co-oxidation). These processes occur within a wide range of hydrogeologic settings, and biogeochemical interactions among formations, microorganisms, and contaminants control attenuation pathways and rates.
