Degradation of Xenobiotics at Elevated Temperatures

In the last decade, attention has been paid to the development of new strategies for the biodegradation of pollutants such as aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. These compounds are usually found in the wastewaters of petrochemical plants or in contaminated soils. The bioremediation of such sites has been investigated using pure and mixed microbial cultures under mesophilic conditions (Liu 1985; Cuno 1996). Due to the limited bioavailability of these compounds at ambient temperatures, their biodegradation is rather limited (Kästner et al. 1993; Wilson and Jones 1992). A promising approach to improve the bioavailability of these hydrophobic compounds without using additional chemicals is to develop biological processes at elevated temperatures. Although the treatment of large amounts of polluted water or soils at temperatures above 60 °C requires additional energy, there are, however, many advantages that make such an approach very attractive.