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In Situ Bioremediation When Does it Work? (1993) / Chapter Skim
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5 Future Prospects for Bioremediation
Pages 91-96

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From page 91...
... By providing guidance on how to evaluate bioremediation, the committee hopes this report will eliminate the mystery that shrouds this highly multidisciplinary technology and pave the way for further technological advances. This chapter summarizes new research advances that the committee foresees as expanding the future capabilities of bioremediation.
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From page 92...
... The researchers, studying PCBs in Hudson River sediments, have documented that anaerobic microbes in the sediments can transform highly chlorinated PCBs to lightly chlorinated PCBs, which can be degraded completely by aerobic microbes (see Box 4-3~. This research may become the basis for commercial bioremediation of PCBs compounds once thought to be undegradable.
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From page 93...
... Research is under way into engineering advances to increase the availability of contaminants to microbes advances that, if successfully applied, would increase bioremediation's efficiency. New techniques for promoting contaminant transport to the organisms include highpressure fracturing of the subsurface matrix, solubilization of the contaminants by injecting heat (via steam, hot water, or hot air)
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From page 94...
... Rapid, reliable, and inexpensive site characterization techniques would have a significant impact on the ease of evaluating bioremediation. Examples of relevant site measurements include distribution of hydraulic conductivities, contaminant concentrations associated with solid or other nonaqueous phases, native biodegradation potential, and abundance of different microbial populations.
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From page 95...
... The committee recommends three types of education: · Training courses that selectively extend the knowledge bases of the technical personnel currently dealing with the uses or potential uses of in situ bioremediation. This step explicitly recognizes that practitioners and regulators who already are dealing with complicated applications of bioremediation need immediate education about technical areas outside their normal expertise.
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From page 96...
... 96 IN SITU BIOREMEDIATION relying on the natural properties of the subsurface or engineeredaugmenting subsurface properties to promote microbial activitiesthe importance of a sound strategy for evaluating bioremediation will increase in the future as the search for improved cleanup technologies accelerates.
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Key Terms

  • cleanup technologies
  • biodegradation potential
  • technical personnel
  • chlorinated solvents
  • microbial processes

  • petroleum hydrocarbons
  • site characterization
  • chlorinated pcbs
  • situ bioremediation
  • step explicitly

  • explicitly recognizes
  • cleanup standards
  • commercial practice
  • characterization techniques
  • microbial populations

  • cleanup goals
  • evaluate bioremediation
  • interdisciplinary training
  • biodegradation reactions
  • relevant site

  • assaying biodegradation
  • increasing importance
  • stimulating materials
  • recommends research
  • substantially expanded

  • providing guidance
  • include distribution
  • microbes behave
  • alternative cleanup
  • native biodegradation


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