[MICR 2420] - Final Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes fot the exam (22 pages long!)

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Microbiology
• Course: MICR 2420
• Professor: Wendy Keenleyside

Document Summary

Defined as: the use of life forms to degrade pollutants. Occurs through oxidation gaining of electrons. Or reduction, in the case of fermentation and terminal electron acceptors: the terminal electron acceptor is typically o2, unless it is anaerobic. Bioremediation usually utilizes microbes already living in the population: techniques are used to increase populations of microbes or increase how they function. Usually bioremediation uses heterotrophic organisms: this is because they can degrade every organic substance on the planet. There are currently only a few good success stories in terms of bioremediation: a good example is sewage and water treatment. The process is almost entirely based on the microbes already existing in the sewage. Secondary treatment uses aerobic incubation of microbes. There are some things the anaerobes cannot degrade and this is known as. In the digestion tanks, anaerobic microbes degrade leftover substances sludge. A by-product of the process is methane due to the use of methanogens.