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Engineering Our Crops | Silicon and Cells Bioremediation Terry
Hazen is a scientist using nature to cure itself. He is an expert in bioremediation
-- the use of microbes to clean up contamination. Usually, chlorinated solvents are very difficult to clean-up, but Hazen tried a new tactic. He enlisted the help of microbe that is already available in the soil. Methanotrophs, microbes which thrive in methane gas, naturally consume contaminants, but they usually exist in small numbers. Hazen increased the population of methanotrophs in the soil of SRS by pumping methane gas through pipes leading to the contaminated soil. The microbe population began to grow and biodegrade the contaminants in the soil. When the soil is no longer contaminated, all Hazen has to do is stop pumping the methane. The microbes die back to natural levels. It's an effective but low tech solution. Engineering Our Crops | Silicon and Cells
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