PROJECT "LIFE" TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF COMPOST BIOREMEDIATION TECHNOLOGY FOR THE RECLAMATION AND SUSTAINABLE URBAN MANAGEMENT OF BROWNFIELDS.

Languages

Help Menu

Menu of navigation

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Technology
• Task and results
• Disemination
• News
• Reports
• Events
• Forum
• Links

Contact data

Technology

Technology description

Compost Bioremediation technology is based on the stimulation of the biodegradative activity of microbial populations present in a contaminated soil, by means of the addition of a compost, which is specifically designed according to the characteristics and nutritional requirements of each contaminated soil to be treated and is enriched with populations of degradative microflora coming from each soil. Degradative microorganisms in highly contaminated soils develop effective genetic regulatory systems that respond to the presence or absence of specific pollutants, and many of them have the capacity to take these the pollutants as their carbon source. However, contaminated soils usually present a low microbial activity, basically due to the lack of optimal environmental conditions, as for example low concentrations of organic matter, oxygen, nitrogen and/or phosphorus availability, etc. The addition, during the on-site treatment of contaminated soils, of specifically made composts, rich in biodegradative microbial populations and with a high percentage of biodegradable organic matter, will enhance each soil intrinsic bioremediation capacity accelerating, therefore, the emplacement recuperation process

The main innovation of BIOSOIL project is the elaboration of a compost that is specifically designed according to the requirements of each contaminated site to be treated. The formulation of each compost will be determined according to the nutritional and environmental requirements of the degradative microorganisms in each polluted soil. The main distinguishing factor during the elaboration of each compost is the controlled addition of a specific portion of the polluted soil. At the end of the composting process, we obtain a composted material that is enriched in microbial populations present in the soil and able to degrade pollutants once the mature compost is added to the polluted soil in order to be remediated.

 

The improvement of the degradative activity of indigenous microorganisms has one fundamental advantage for the efficiency of Compost Bioremediation technology, because it avoids one of the greatest problems in the application of other bioremediation tecnologies. Other biological remediation technologies, are based on the inoculation of exogenous microorganisms raised in bioreactors, being extremely difficult the adaptability of these microorganisms to the hostile conditions of a polluted soil. Moreover, exogenous microorganisms have to compete for few nutritional resources against autochthonous microorganisms, which are adapted to the environmental conditions of a contaminated soil. Other advantages, compared to other bioremediation processes, are:

• It achieves higher clean-up levels, due to the presence of a bioaugmented inoculum of degradative microorganisms in the compost, enhancing, therefore, the decontamination process.
• The treatment lasts less time, compared to other remediation processes.
• It is a versatile technology, because it is specifically developed for the specific requirements of each emplacement.
• It needs less manipulation and maintenance requirements, reducing the treatment costs.

The results and experience that are required for the realization of this demonstration project, are based on the knowledge acquired by the work team, during the realization of previous several R&D&i projects supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (PROFIT Programme), the Spanish Industrial Technology Development Research Centre (CDTI) and the Basque Society for the Industrial Development (SPRI).