Soil bioremediation

The goal of treating land is to make it suitable for a particular purpose or so that it no longer poses unacceptable risk. Generally, it would be judged better to devote them to cleaning up other sites, which maximizes the potential reuse of former industrial land thereby protecting urban open spaces and the countryside from development pressure. In the long term, the sustainable use of land largely depends on making sure that it is maintained at a level, which enables its continued best use for its current or intended purpose.

The choice of method and the determination of the final remediation standard will always be chiefly governed by site-specific factors including intended use, local conditions and sensitivities, potential risk and available timeframe.

Different techniques are employed depending on the degree of saturation and aeration of an area. In situ techniques are defined as those that are applied to soil and groundwater at the site with minimal disturbance. Ex situ techniques are those that are applied to soil and groundwater that has been removed from the site via excavation (soil) or pumping (water).

In situ bioremediation

These techniques are generally the most desirable options due to lower cost and less disturbance since they provide the treatment in place avoiding excavation and transport of contaminants. In situ treatment is limited by the depth of the soil that can be effectively treated. In many soils effective oxygen diffusion for desirable rates of bioremediation extend to a range of only a few centimeters to about 30 cm into the soil, although depths of 60 cm and greater have been effectively treated in some cases.

In situ techniques can be used for soil and groundwater. The most important land treatments are:

Bioventing is the most common in situ treatment and involves supplying air and nutrients through wells to contaminated soil to stimulate the indigenous bacteria. Bioventing employs low airflow rates and provides only the amount of oxygen necessary for the biodegradation while minimizing volatilization and release of contaminants to the atmosphere. It works for simple hydrocarbons and can be used where the contamination is deep under the surface.

Biosparging involves the injection of air under pressure below the water table to increase groundwater oxygen concentrations and enhance the rate of biological degradation of contaminants by naturally occurring bacteria. Biosparging increases the mixing in the saturated zone and thereby increases the contact between soil and groundwater. The ease and low cost of installing small-diameter air injection points allows considerable flexibility in the design and construction of the system.

Bioaugmentation frequently involves the addition of microorganisms indigenous or exogenous to the contaminated sites. Two factors limit the use of added microbial cultures in a land treatment unit: 1) nonindigenous cultures rarely compete well enough with an indigenous population to develop and sustain useful population levels and 2) most soils with long-term exposure to biodegradable waste have indigenous microorganisms that are effective degrades if the land treatment unit is well managed.

Ex situ bioremediation

These techniques involve the excavation or removal of contaminated soil from ground.

Landfarming is a simple technique in which contaminated soil is excavated and spread over a prepared bed and periodically tilled until pollutants are degraded. The goal is to stimulate indigenous biodegradative microorganisms and facilitate their aerobic degradation of contaminants. In general, the practice is limited to the treatment of superficial 10–35 cm of soil. Since landfarming has the potential to reduce monitoring and maintenance costs, as well as clean-up liabilities, it has received much attention as a disposal alternative.

Composting is a technique that involves combining contaminated soil with nonhazardous organic amendants such as manure or agricultural wastes. The presence of these organic materials supports the development of a rich microbial population and elevated temperature characteristic of composting.

Biopiles are a hybrid of landfarming and composting. Essentially, engineered cells are constructed as aerated composted piles. Typically used for treatment of surface contamination with petroleum hydrocarbons they are a refined version of landfarming that tend to control physical losses of the contaminants by leaching and volatilization. Biopiles provide a favorable environment for indigenous aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms.

Bioreactors. Slurry reactors or aqueous reactors are used for ex situ treatment of contaminated soil and water pumped up from a contaminated plume. Bioremediation in reactors involves the processing of contaminated solid material (soil, sediment, sludge) or water through an engineered containment system. A slurry bioreactor may be defined as a containment vessel and apparatus used to create a three-phase (solid, liquid, and gas) mixing condition to increase the bioremediation rate of soilbound and water-soluble pollutants as a water slurry of the contaminated soil and biomass (usually indigenous microorganisms) capable of degrading target contaminants. In general, the rate and extent of biodegradation are greater in a bioreactor system than in situ or in solid-phase systems because the contained environment is more manageable and hence more controllable and predictable. Despite the advantages of reactor systems, there are some disadvantages. The contaminated soil requires pretreatment (e. g., excavation) or alternatively the contaminant can be stripped from the soil via soil washing or physical extraction (e. g., vacuum extraction) before being placed in a bioreactor.

Phytoremediation is a bioremediation process that uses various types of plants to remove, transfer, stabilize, and/or destroy contaminants in the soil and groundwater. It is presently used to remove metals from contaminated soils and groundwater and is being further explored for the remediation of other pollutants. Certain plants have also been found to absorb toxic metals such as mercury, lead and arsenic from polluted soils and water, and scientists are hopeful that they can be used to treat industrial waste.