Bioremediation: A Simple Method to Clean-Up Polluted Environment
Jackson, O. I.*; Adeyemi, A. A. and Odeleye, O. A.
Department of Environmental Management and Modelling, Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, Nigeria.
*Corresponding author: mail2oyeen@yahoo.com
Accepted on July 25, 2013
Abstract
An increasingly industrialized global economy has resulted in elevated discharges of pollutants into the environment thus posing great risks to environmental and human health. The main environmental pollutants include petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, inorganic fertilizers, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and solvents. Some of these contaminants are readily biodegradable while others are recalcitrant, persisting in the environment. This has led to researches on ways to mitigate environmental pollution. Bioremediation is the use of biodegradative agents or processes to remove or transform pollutants to less or non-toxic forms. This can be employed in situ or ex situ depending on the degree of saturation and aeration of the contaminated environment. This paper discusses the principle of bioremediation, the different bioremediation technologies as well as their effectiveness and limitations in the elimination of several environmental contaminants.