Abstract
This review paper provides a critical examination on current microbial biodegradation of 2, 4, 6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) and its metabolites in soil, with focus on: (i) extent of biological degradation of TNT and its metabolites in soil, (ii) factors affecting the TNT transformations, and (iii) microbial bioremediation technologies , and related challenges. This was carried out through an extensive examination of relevant published literature on the topic. The review paper found that the detoxification of TNT contaminated sites by microorganisms based- technologies have been employed but TNT has been proven to resist biological mineralization and undergo biotransformations, leading to immobilization of toxic and unstable transformation products. TNT mineralization is however achievable, but scientific studies are far away from attaining the best desired in situ bioremediation practices and much remains to be delineated. We provide future research directions to design effective bioremediation technologies for solving the problems of TNT and minimize environmental impacts.
Highlights
In the early 19th century, there was an emergence of manufacturing of organic compounds
In Borden sand, the sorption of the nitroaromatics studied was insignificant. These findings clearly show that TNT is less and more sorbed than its transformation products in topsoil and illite shale environments
A study conducted by Maeda et al.[17] on Escherichia coli K-12 strain AB1157, luminescent bacteria (Salmonella typhimurium strain TA1535/pTL210) and frogs shown that TNT and its transformation products are cytotoxic and mutagenic, and may cause many other adverse effects
Summary
In the early 19th century, there was an emergence of manufacturing of organic compounds. The extensive usage in military applications coupled with improper handling and disposal techniques of these explosives and their transformation products led to increased environmental pollution, soil, sediment, surface and groundwater to the levels that threaten human health and the environment. Over the years, this situation has escalated, requiring more attention from the research community [3, 4, 10, 13, 14].
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