Recent advancements and applications of soil bioremediation techniques

Soil contamination is often caused by the inappropriate treatment of industrial wastes and municipal sewage threatening the safety of environment, food and ecology as well as the sustainability of society. Bioremediation refers to the application of microorganisms to dissociate organic compounds, detoxifying heavy metal ions or reducing their bioavailability. The advancement of biotechnology has empowered technical innovation of bioremediation methods and their applications in the treatment of contaminated farmland and wasted plant site. This review starts with a brief introduction to bioremediation techniques and their applications to three major types of soil contaminants. The applicability of these methods was discussed from the viewpoint of contaminates transformation and utilization. The technical advancement in the selection and screening of degradation microorganisms, molecular biology methods for assessing microbiological ecology as well as novel bioaugmentation principles were detailed. The applications of bioremediation techniques in the treatment of gas stations, abandoned plants and straw mulching were described. The problems in the development of soil bioremediation techniques such as the assessment of soil remediation outcome, formation of high performance degrading microbial consortia were outlined, as well as the prospects of soil remediation techniques. © 2023 Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.