Photobiodegradation of halogenated aromatic pollutants

Release of wide range of compounds as a consequence of industrial development is now a serious environmental problem. Numerous hazardous waste sites have been generated worldwide resulting from the accumulation of xenobiotics in soil and water. Aromatic compounds constitute a large and diverse group of chemicals that are responsible for causing widespread environmental pollution. Among them halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons are very stable to undergo degradation due to resonance energy and inertness of carbon-halogen, carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon covalent bonds. The physico-chemical remedial strategies to clean up sites contaminated by these compounds are inadequate and economically inefficient. Therefore, research is increasingly being focused on development of biological approaches for their remediation. The hunt for the microorganisms degrading halogenated aromatic pollutants has been successful in discovering a diverse range of aerobic, anaerobic and phototrophic bacteria. The bacteria mineralize the toxic halogenated pollutants into harmless products thereby contributing towards conservation of the environment quality.