Mycoremediation of Contaminated Soils

Abstract

This chapter deals with the importance of fungi in the decontamination of polluted soils. Because of their physiological and biochemical features, both ligninolytic and non-ligninolytic fungi can degrade and, to some extent, mineralize a wide range of organic and xenobiotic pollutants such as oil-derived products, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and furans, pesticides, herbicides, and nitroaromatic explosives, and pharmaceuticals. Thus, fungi are excellent candidates for the design of effective bioremediation technologies. The potentialities of the fungal application in the remediation of soils for the degradation of persistent chlorinated and non-chlorinated organic pollutants are presented in this chapter through a number of studies at laboratory scale as well as at pilot- and full-scale trials. Furthermore, the shortcomings that make this technology still unsuitable for large-scale trials are also analyzed in this chapter.