Marine Bioremediation - A Sustainable Biotechnology of Petroleum Hydrocarbons Biodegradation in Coastal and Marine Environments

Paniagua-Michel J and Alberto

Abstract

Bioremediation is now the best successful initiative to mitigate and to recover sites contaminated with hydrocarbons and has been the preferred process for clean-up contamination around the oceans of the world. The advantages of marine microorganisms in the removal of petroleum hydrocarbons, exemplifies the eco-sustainable bioremediation that can be achieved in sensitive marine environments and probably until now the only approach for biodiversity rich and fragile environments. The use of bio-surfactants to protect the marine environment is particularly attractive since a number of marine bacteria and microalgae strains can produce bio-surfactants during growth on hydrocarbons. Moreover, according to recent results, marine microorganisms, exhibit the maximum yield and surface-active property compared to terrestrial species. Because of the interest to find ecofriendly solutions for the bioremediation and biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in the marine environment, the use of marine microorganisms and their respective bio-surfactants is preferable to that non-marine and of synthetic origin. The aim of this review is to integrate the advantages of marine bioremediation coupled to hydrocarbon removal from marine environments. This alternative of bioremediation is a natural process of waste treatment, relatively cost-effective than other remediation approaches that are used for clean-up of hazardous waste in coasts, seas and oceans that can be adaptable to variable environmental conditions, viz, estuarine, coastal and marine pollution and is widely accepted by the society.