ABSTRACT
This chapter reports on the current and the potential uses of soil conditioners to enhance and promote the growth of microorganisms and plants involved in bioremediation. It includes the microbial processes leading to the destruction or detoxification of contaminants as well as the soil environmental conditions necessary for optimal growth and reproduction of microbial species capable of degrading contaminants. Methods of cleaning up and removing these contaminants are expensive and difficult to implement. The need to develop and apply innovative technologies to deal with these serious environmental contaminants in a cost-effective manner is urgent. The initial monooxygenation of 4-chlorophenol was rapid only when the primary substrate phenol was being oxidized to create a high intracellular level of the reduced electron carrier NADPH. Manipulations of the cell’s primary electron-donor and electron-acceptor substrates greatly accelerate or decelerate degradation or detoxification of soil contaminants.
