Bioremediation

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The process by which a microorganism such as bacteria or fungi is used to absorb or breakdown environmental toxins. These organisms typically bind to toxins allowing much easier removal. Commercially, bioremdiative agents are used to clean-up such environmental conditions as oil spills.

Bioremediation commonly used an oxygen-reduction (redox) process by which it donates an electron to another compound. There are several types of redox reactions leveraged by bioremediative agents:

  • Aerobic: Uses oxygen to provide chemical bonding. Common examples include composting, bioventing, and landfarming. The tilling of soil introduces larger amounts of oxygen which speeds up natural biodegradation.
  • Anaerobic: Commonly used to remove synthetic toxins by replacing oxygen to speed up certain degradative processes.

Heavy Metals

Bioremediation is often used to help remove toxic metals from the environment. Many of these compounds are non-biodegradable and present complex removal scenarios. Bioremediative agents can work to convert many metals into less-toxic forms as well as binding to them directly allowing for easier removal.

Yeasts, especially Candida, is commonly leveraged for their ability to bind to certain toxins as a part of their natural protective processes. For example, Candida albicans has shown that absorption of certain metals into biofilms provides a higher degree of competition when those metals are found in acute concentrations.