Microbial Bioremediation of Heavy Metals

Abstract

Heavy metals are found naturally. Anthropogenic activities and rapid industrialization have led to their unprecedented release into the environment. Being non-biodegradable in nature, they persist in the environment. Prolonged exposure and accumulation of these metals poses a serious threat to the ecosystem. Conventional treatment of contaminated material whether soil or water involves expensive chemical or physical methods which are arduous, energy demanding, and carry the risk of secondary contamination. It is thus necessary to adopt a sustainable remediation process to mitigate this problem. Biological remediation processes are preferable as they are environmentally safe, techno-economically feasible, and do not generate toxic byproducts. Microbial bioremediation is particularly attractive as it allows remediation processes by tapping naturally occurring catabolic capacities to transform, accumulate, and adsorb metals for detoxification. It is a comparatively low-cost technology. Therefore, microbial bioremediation is promising as an alternative to physico-chemical methods.