title: Removing environmental organic pollutants with bioremediation and phytoremediation.
abstract: Hazardous organic pollutants represent a threat to human, animal, and environmental health. If left unmanaged, these pollutants could cause concern. Many researchers have stepped up efforts to find more sustainable and cost-effective alternatives to using hazardous chemicals and treatments to remove existing harmful pollutants. Environmental biotechnology, such as bioremediation and phytoremediation, is a promising field that utilizes natural resources including microbes and plants to eliminate toxic organic contaminants. This technology offers an attractive alternative to other conventional remediation processes because of its relatively low cost and environmentally-friendly method. This review discusses current biological technologies for the removal of organic contaminants, including chlorinated hydrocarbons, focusing on their limitation and recent efforts to correct the drawbacks.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, College of the Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA, jwkang75@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Jun Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D009930:Organic Chemicals