How are bioremediation microbes removed from the environment once they perform their function?

Question

In the case of bioaugmentation, microbes are introduced into the environment to clean up and absorb a certain pollutant. My question is how is that microbe then removed from the environment once it performs its function?

Answer 1

The easiest solution to the problem you pose is that the bioremediation organisms most likely die once the substrate they are consuming is gone.

For example, if a petroleum-degrading microbe is added to an oil spill in a marine environment, it will preferentially use the petroleum as a carbon source until it is consumed. We hope this occurs because it removes it from the environment.

Once the petroleum substrate is gone, the bioremediating microbes should die off due to lack of preferred carbon source, and the indigenous microbes present should quickly outcompete the bioremediator, restoring the natural balance.

Hope that helps!

Dr. P