**6. Opportunities and future predictions of soil remediation**

Remediationof contaminatedsoils ispresently a costly venture but asnew technologies emerge to treat soils in-situ, expenses can diminish considerably. Technology optimists like Ray Kurzweil forecast that pollution will discontinue to be produced in the future and predicts a set oftechnologies(includingbiotechnologies)thatwillbeusedtocleanupthepreviouslygenerated contamination.Kurzweilexpressesastrongfaithinnanotechnologythathebelieveswillprovide useful features for remediation of contaminants including; improved catalysis, chemical and atomic bonding, sensing, and mechanical manipulation. Currently, extensive research is undertaken to develop nanoproduced crystalline materials for catalysts that have the poten‐ tial to improve chemical yields, reduce toxic by-products, and remove contaminants [59].

To overcome some of the difficulties to degrade recalcitrant compounds research on combined biological/abiological degradation technologies might provide useful technologies. Pretreatments by strong oxidizing agents such as ozone, Fenton´s reagent, potassium permanga‐ nate, ferrate etc. have shown promising results and Singh and Ward predict that combined chemical/biological treatment of pollutants will play an important role in the future [45]. Strong chemical oxidants may however severely affect soil microbial populations and furthermore requires input of energy and material resources.

The use of biocatalysts is another interesting method whose practical applications have been predicted to increase in the future. This kind of enzymatic remediation can potentially overcome difficulties such as low survival rate of whole cell organisms and generation of toxic by-products that are associated with bioaugmentation. Research on enzymatic bioremediation is at its infancy and few field studies exist. The major limitation for large-scale applications is currently the prohibitive cost for the production of the enzymes. Molecular tools are increas‐ ingly explored to overcome that obstacle which could decrease the costs significantly in the future [60]. As we have demonstrated in this chapter the use of readily available organic waste products as amendments and the appropriate application of principles of ecological engineer‐ ing is potentially a way to make bioremediation more sustainable.

Sustainability Aspects of In-Situ Bioremediation of Polluted Soil in Developing Countries and Remote Regions http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/57315 79

of the treatment strategy. Soil samples taken from the sectors indicate that the TPH concen‐

The long term effect of a one-dose of the liquid amendment (whey) is remarkable. It is worth to note that the summer 2008 was hotter than normal in the region and the monthly average

Hydrological Institute, www.smhi.se/klimatdata/meteorologi. Clearly the low soil tempera‐ ture in this, just as in the above presented case, severely limits the rate of biodegradation, but when conditions becomes thermodynamically more favourable, the microorganisms are able to benefit from the extra carbon and micronutrients provided by the amendment, even after a

Remediationof contaminatedsoils ispresently a costly venture but asnew technologies emerge to treat soils in-situ, expenses can diminish considerably. Technology optimists like Ray Kurzweil forecast that pollution will discontinue to be produced in the future and predicts a set oftechnologies(includingbiotechnologies)thatwillbeusedtocleanupthepreviouslygenerated contamination.Kurzweilexpressesastrongfaithinnanotechnologythathebelieveswillprovide useful features for remediation of contaminants including; improved catalysis, chemical and atomic bonding, sensing, and mechanical manipulation. Currently, extensive research is undertaken to develop nanoproduced crystalline materials for catalysts that have the poten‐ tial to improve chemical yields, reduce toxic by-products, and remove contaminants [59].

To overcome some of the difficulties to degrade recalcitrant compounds research on combined biological/abiological degradation technologies might provide useful technologies. Pretreatments by strong oxidizing agents such as ozone, Fenton´s reagent, potassium permanga‐ nate, ferrate etc. have shown promising results and Singh and Ward predict that combined chemical/biological treatment of pollutants will play an important role in the future [45]. Strong chemical oxidants may however severely affect soil microbial populations and furthermore

The use of biocatalysts is another interesting method whose practical applications have been predicted to increase in the future. This kind of enzymatic remediation can potentially overcome difficulties such as low survival rate of whole cell organisms and generation of toxic by-products that are associated with bioaugmentation. Research on enzymatic bioremediation is at its infancy and few field studies exist. The major limitation for large-scale applications is currently the prohibitive cost for the production of the enzymes. Molecular tools are increas‐ ingly explored to overcome that obstacle which could decrease the costs significantly in the future [60]. As we have demonstrated in this chapter the use of readily available organic waste products as amendments and the appropriate application of principles of ecological engineer‐

C according to the Swedish Meteorological and

tration in the left part is half the concentration in the untreated part.

**6. Opportunities and future predictions of soil remediation**

temperature anomaly in July was + 1.5 o

78 Environmental Risk Assessment of Soil Contamination

requires input of energy and material resources.

ing is potentially a way to make bioremediation more sustainable.

one year incubation time.

**Figure 11.** One time treatment of left part of oil spot with 200 l fresh milk whey.
