Bioremediation – prospects for the future application of innovative applied biological research

It has been estimated that there may be as much as 300 000 ha in the UK where contamination from previous industrial land use has occurred. The ‘Source‐Pathway‐Receptor’ model is used to evaluate these risks. Traditional engineering approaches have dominated remediation technology, but biological methods have become increasingly important in recent years. ‘Bioremediation’ has been defined as ‘the elimination, attenuation or transformation of polluting or contaminating substances by the use of biological processes’. Techniques to treat soil materials include biopiling, windrowing, landfarming and bioventing, all of which depend on microbiological degradation. However, increasingly it also includes the use of vegetation to take up and/or degrade contaminants (phytoremediation) or restrict contaminant movement (phytostabilisation). Phytoremediation can be encouraged by manipulation of the rhizosphere, using selected fungal isolates in a process now defined as phytobial remediation.