The Threat of Persistent Pollutants

With the advancement of industrial activities and urbanization, the global accumulation of persistent chemical substances in soil, groundwater, and air has become a growing concern.

Typical persistent pollutants include volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene and toluene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), PCBs, dioxins, and certain pesticides and herbicides.

These substances are known for their stable chemical structures and resistance to natural degradation due to the scarcity of suitable decomposing microorganisms.
As a result, they are difficult to eliminate through natural attenuation alone.
Moreover, they are associated with severe health risks — such as carcinogenicity, liver damage, and respiratory diseases — as well as threats to ecosystems.
This highlights the growing importance of bioremediation technologies, especially those leveraging biological power.

What Is Bioaugmentation (Biodegradation)?

Bioaugmentation is a form of bioremediation in which cultivated microorganisms are introduced to contaminated environments to break down pollutants.
It has gained attention in recent years for its potential in treating persistent contaminants like VOCs.
Our BioTech technology, utilizing the ERP KB-12 strain, is one example of this approach.

(Reference: Ministry of the Environment, Japan —“Information on Bioremediation”)

Challenges and Potential — Insights from Research

Before delving into BioTech, it’s important to understand the current challenges and possibilities of bioaugmentation technologies.

According to the paper “The Potential and Challenges of Practical Bioaugmentation” (Journal of the Society for Biotechnology, Japan), while bioaugmentation holds great promise for decomposing and detoxifying pollutants, it still faces several hurdles for practical application.
The major challenge is the difficulty of ensuring that introduced microorganisms establish themselves in local soil or groundwater environments, sometimes resulting in lower-than-expected degradation performance.
Other technical and regulatory issues include microbial selection, mass cultivation, transportation, injection methods, and safety evaluation.

Yet, overcoming these challenges would make bioaugmentation a cost-effective and environmentally friendlyalternative to conventional physical or chemical treatment methods — offering a sustainable solution for pollution control.

For example:

  • In a field study, specific degradative bacteria were injected into VOC-contaminated soil along with oxygen and nutrients.
    After three weeks, significant reductions in trichloroethylene (TCE) and cis-1,2-dichloroethylene concentrations were observed.
  • Laboratory tests also showed remarkable degradation of benzene compounds within days to weeks.

These results demonstrate the real potential of selected microorganisms to effectively break down persistent pollutants.

NEXT：Purification Methods and Their Effectiveness