Do microbial bioremediation uses microorganisms to break down contaminants & process of microorganisms degrade contaminants?
Bioremediation stimulates natural microbes to consume contaminants as their energy and food source. Certain microorganisms eat toxic chemicals and pathogens, digesting and eliminating them by changing their composition into harmless gases like ethane and carbon dioxide. The phenomena to treat any polluted or contaminated medium with the alteration of environmental conditions so as to trigger microbial growth hence degrade the target pollutants are as bioremediation. Biodegradation is defined as the biologically catalyzed reduction in complexity of chemical compounds. Indeed, biodegradation is the process by which organic substances are broken down into smaller compounds by living microbial organisms. Microbes able to degrade the contaminant and increase in numbers when the contaminant is present. When the contaminant is degraded, the biodegradative population become declines. The residues for the treatment are usually harmless product including water carbon dioxide and cell biomass.
The microbial organisms transform the substance through metabolic or enzymatic processes. It is based on two processes: growth and cometabolism. In growth, an organic pollutant is used as sole source of carbon and energy. This process results in a complete degradation of organic pollutants. Bioremediationuses microorganisms to degrade organic contaminants in soil, groundwater, sludge, and solids. The microorganisms break down contaminants by using them as an energy source or cometabolizing them with an energy source. The microbial degradation of oil and fats comprises a combination of complex biological and physicochemical processes, such as the production of lipase, the lipolytic reaction, and the mass transfer properties for the substrate phase, the fatty acid uptake and the growth kinetics of the cells. In a material, any physical and chemical change that is caused by the action of microorganisms is known as biodegradation. Natural and synthetic plastics are degraded by the action of microorganisms including bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi. Bacteria, archaea and fungi are typical prime bioremediators . The application of bioremediation as a biotechnological process involving microorganisms for solving and removing dangers of many pollutants through biodegradation from the environment.
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