Abstract
Organic pollutants can be removed from soil by means of biological treatment. A major problem in the application of these treatments is the efficiency of biodegradation in soil. The bulk of the pollution can often be removed but certain residual amounts remain unaltered (19, 22). In addition, biodegradation rates are often much slower than expected on the basis of laboratory trials. The kinetics of microbial growth alone are not sufficient to explain the slow biological removal rates in soil and the occurrence of residual amounts after bioremediation. The present paper will give a summary of factors that potentially result in a reduced biotransformation rate in soil, or in other words, reduce the bioavailability of the pollutants. First, a short discussion of the problem of bioavailability is presented. Then, several factors that may reduce the bioavailability of pollutants are discussed.
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Bosma, T.N.P. (1995). Rate Limiting Steps in Bioremediation. In: Zehnder, A.J.B. (eds) Soil and Groundwater Pollution. Soil & Environment, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8587-3_32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8587-3_32
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