Port Sediments: Problem or Resource? A Review Concerning the Treatment and Decontamination of Port Sediments by Fungi and Bacteria.

Grazia Cecchi,Simone Di Piazza,Giovanni Besio,Laura Cutroneo,Marco Capello,Mirca Zotti

doi:10.3390/microorganisms9061279

Grazia Cecchi, Simone Di Piazza + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9061279

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Journal: Microorganisms	Publication Date: Jun 11, 2021
Citations: 11	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Genoa

Abstract

Contamination of marine sediments by organic and/or inorganic compounds represents one of the most critical problems in marine environments. This issue affects not only biodiversity but also ecosystems, with negative impacts on sea water quality. The scientific community and the European Commission have recently discussed marine environment and ecosystem protection and restoration by sustainable green technologies among the main objectives of their scientific programmes. One of the primary goals of sustainable restoration and remediation of contaminated marine sediments is research regarding new biotechnologies employable in the decontamination of marine sediments, to consider sediments as a resource in many fields such as industry. In this context, microorganisms—in particular, fungi and bacteria—play a central and crucial role as the best tools of sustainable and green remediation processes. This review, carried out in the framework of the Interreg IT-FR Maritime GEREMIA Project, collects and shows the bioremediation and mycoremediation studies carried out on marine sediments contaminated with ecotoxic metals and organic pollutants. This work evidences the potentialities and limiting factors of these biotechnologies and outlines the possible future scenarios of the bioremediation of marine sediments, and also highlights the opportunities of an integrated approach that involves fungi and bacteria together.

Highlights

Marine sediments and, in particular, harbour/port sediments, currently represent the main source of inorganic and organic contaminants [1,2]
After a short overview of the main traditional strategies and biotechnologies of sediment remediation, we deeply explore the bioremediation and mycoremediation studies on marine sediments polluted by both ecotoxic metals and organic pollutants, and show the main microorganisms employed among fungi and bacteria
Some of the new bioremediation methods appear to be promising, such as those involving the use of microorganisms

Summary

Introduction

In particular, harbour/port sediments, currently represent the main source of inorganic and organic contaminants [1,2] These contaminants are especially due to industrial and anthropogenic activities that impact the port system [3]. Many of these works have dealt with the potentialities and advantages of bioremediation processes without specifying the application environment, while a few papers have dealt with the possible strategies of bioremediation in marine environments (coasts, seawater, sediments), but limited to one type of contaminant (i.e., oil spills, total hydrocarbons, PAHs, metals). In this review, we aimed to collect all the information about bioremediation technologies of organic and inorganic pollutants mediated by microorganisms (fungi and bacteria) in marine sediments, in situ or ex situ, and to compare the methods and to highlight the potentialities of biosurfactant application and of integrated approaches of bioremediation. The literature search was performed using ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases

Marine Environment Remediation

Marine Sediments Contaminated by Ecotoxic Metals

Marine Sediments Contaminated by Organic Pollutants

Biosurfactants as Promising Tool for the Bioremediation of Marine Sediments

Findings

Conclusions