What are some Advantages of Bioremediation?
There are several key advantages to using bioremediation as opposed to other, more traditional remediation methods. Firstly, because it can normally be conducted in-situ, bioremediation tends to be the most cost effective option, as it does not involve any costly transportation of hazardous materials. By the same token, it can also reduce the opportunity for contaminants to be spread further during extraction and transportation. Bioremediation also does not normally have extensive equipment requirements, which further reduces cost. Because it uses biological processes to break down contaminants, bioremediation can also have fewer secondary effects on the surrounding environment, especially when biostimulation, rather than bioaugmentation, is used.
What are the Risks Involved?
One of the major disadvantages to bioremediation is the limitations on the types of contaminants that it can remove effectively. Although there are some cases where remediation of sites that have non-organic pollutants is possible, bioremediation still tends to work best when it is used to break down organic substances. A second disadvantage to bioremediation, in contrast to other remediation techniques, is its relative sensitivity to environmental factors such as temperature, pH, and the presence of various other substances or organisms, many of which it can be difficult to predict the effects of. Therein lies the third significant problem faced by bioremediation; we do not yet have a sufficient understanding of the biological processes and reactions involved to always predict all of the effects of using bioremediation on a site, some of which could be undesirable.
Click on these links to explore further the advantages and disadvantages of bioremediation technologies:
http://www.bioremediation-products.com/index.php/freqently-asked-guestions/34-advantages-of-bioremediation
http://oilsplat.wordpress.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-cleaning-agents/
http://www.dms.ufsc.br/mip7013/arquivos/5316_Biorremediacao-1.pdf
http://www.bioremediation-products.com/index.php/freqently-asked-guestions/34-advantages-of-bioremediation
http://oilsplat.wordpress.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-cleaning-agents/
http://www.dms.ufsc.br/mip7013/arquivos/5316_Biorremediacao-1.pdf