Role of microorganisms in permeable reactive bio-barriers (Prbbs) for environmental clean-up: A review

Abstract

It is an indisputable fact that any environmental clean-up technology generating certain kind of effective result would be easily supported. One of them includes Permeable reactive bio-barrier which is an innovative technology started from 90’s to treat a variety of contaminants along the natural gradient flow of groundwater through immobilization or transformation of pollutants into less toxic and harmful form. Despite of any broad acknowledgement, there are lesser known knowledge about use of microorganisms in permeable reactive barriers, mingling of microorganisms with other reactive media and their effect on each other’s reactivity. The current review deals with an overview of the types of reactive media used in Permeable Reactive Barriers (PRBs) as well as different bio-barriers (PRBBs) utilized for the treatment of various contaminants, long–term performance of permeable reactive barrier and combination of microorganism and reactive media to look forward for their symbiotic relationship in permeable reactive barrier for environmental remediation.