Microbial remediation of aromatics-contaminated soil

Aromatics-contaminated soil is of particular environmental concern as it exhibits carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Bioremediation, a biological approach for the removal of soil contaminants, has several advantages over traditional soil remediation methodologies including high efficiency, complete pollutant removal, low expense and limited or no secondary pollution. Bioaugmentation, defined as the introduction of specific competent strains or consortia of microorganisms, is a widely applied bioremediation technology for soil remediation. In this review, it is concluded which several successful studies of bioaugmentation of aromatics-contaminated soil by single strains or mixed consortia. In recent decades, a number of reports have been published on the metabolic machinery of aromatics degradation by microorganisms and their capacity to adapt to aromatics-contaminated environments. Thus, microorganisms are major players in site remediation. The bioremediation/bioaugmentation process relies on the immense metabolic capacities of microbes for transformation of aromatic pollutants into essentially harmless or, at least, less toxic compounds. Aromatics-contaminated soils are successfully remediated with adding not only single strains but also bacterial or fungal consortia. Furthermore several novel approaches, which microbes combined with physical, chemical or biological factors, increase remediation efficiency of aromatics-contaminated soil. Meanwhile, the environmental factors also have appreciable impacts on the bioaugmentation process. The biostatistics method is recommended for analysis of the effects of bioaugmentation treatments.