Bioremediation Essay

Bioremediation is the technique of using living organisms to clean up contamination in land and water is called bioremediation.

A subset of bioremediation is phytoremediation (technique of using plants as environmental clean-up remedies. petroleum industry employs bacteria to clean up after oil spills and leaks have occurred. oil-loving bacteria break down the chemicals into natural substances, including carbon dioxide gas, a type of alcohol, and water.

Bioremediation, while safe relies on natural processes of bacteria. Therefore it takes a long time to complete.

Scientists who know about bioremediation are needed to carry out the remediation. This means hiring people to do the work, which can get expensive.

Bioremediation uses bacteria and fungi to break down oil. Nitrates or fertilizers are added to the spill to provide nutrients to quicken the growth of the bacteria and fungi.

Advantages

-Bioremediation an ecologically safe and natural process

-Cost effective, 70% less than most other ways of solving contaminated water

-Can clean hard to reach areas

-Air quality and air pollution from chemicals evaporating are eliminated

-After bioremediation the environment is restored to a clean condition

-No health risk to biotic things

Disadvantages

-Not a good choice to clean up an abundance of spill

-Maintaining the nutrients levels needed could be a major challenge

-Labour intensive

-Takes a very long time to complete

Bio” is a prefix meaning life. “phyto” is a prefix for plant. The word “remediation” comes from the word “remedy” which means to correct.

What is it?

Bioremediation is the use of microbes to clean up contaminated soil and groundwater. Microbes are very small organisms, such as bacteria, that live naturall...

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...oremediation it can get costly. Prices for enhanced bioremediation can range from $30-$100 per cubic meter.

$16 to $35 per cubic meter is common for soil treatment.

Does the technology benefit the environment long term or short term?

Bioremediation benefits the environment long term, this process restores the environment back to almost an original state. Bioremediation has been successfully used to clean up gasoline , crude oil, pesticides, and sewage, on both land and water. Some contaminated sites are not easy to access with microbes. For example, when cleansing groundwater, holes in the ground and pumps to circulate microbes, nutrients and air are needed. Not all contaminants can be removed by the process of bioremediation, so it is often the second step in removing contaminates. This is to prevent the harmful chemicals from spreading further.