Advantages
1) Bioremediation is a natural process.
2) It is cost effective.
3) Toxic chemicals are destroyed or removed from environment and not just merely separated.
4) Low capital expenditure.
5) Less energy is required as compared to other technologies
6) Less manual supervision.
Disadvantages
1) The process of bioremediaiton is slow. Time required is in day to months.
2) Heavy metals are not removed.
3) For insitu bioremediation site must have soil with high permeability.
4) It does not remove all quantities of contaminants.
5) Substantial gaps exist in the understanding of microbial ecology, physiology and genetic expression and site expression and site engineering. A stronger scientific base is required for rational designing of process and success.
Advantage and disadvantages of bioremediation
microscopesblog.com
Bioremediation is also attractive because of several advantages that its application has over more conventional technology. For instance, bioremediation techniques are typically more economical than more traditional methods. It is estimated that bioremediation would cost one-third to one-half that of incineration. In addition, in some cases pollutants can be treated at the site, thus reducing the risk exposure to cleanup personnel and potentially wider exposure as a result of transportation accidents (Gabriel, 1991). Furthermore, the techniques usually can be expected to have minimal environmental impact, since bioremediation is a natural process. Also, waste products are usually not generated, as bioremediation often results in complete degradation of the contaminants. These characteristics make bioremediation techniques potentially ideal for detoxification of chemical pollutants.
However, there are a number of problems which are encountered with bioremediation as well. First, in order for organisms to successfully reduce pollutant levels, their population must