Mycoremediation - Commercial status and recent developments

Mycoremediation, or fungal-based soil remediation, has been under development since the mid 1970s. Despite initial high expectations, which were based on the demonstrated ability of white-rot fungi (WRF) to degrade a plethora of hazardous organic chemicals, the technology has been chosen only infrequently as a field remediation solution. From our perspective as technology developers, there are a number of factors that have lead to less then satisfactory field performance by some technology applicators that has, in turn, lead to infrequent selection of mycoremediation as a remediation treatment. The lack of consistent success in the field has resulted from the following: (1) A history of research emphasis on pollutant degradation by WRF without equal emphasis on development of fungal inoculum production techniques or field engineering designs which has led to difficulties in scale-up; (2) The necessity of seeking commercial application prior to completing technology development to fund and provide platforms for further development; (3) Initial overselling of the technology as a result of extrapolation of laboratory results, which were obtained from work in aqueous culture, to potential field performance which has led to attempts at application of the technology to chemicals (e.g. PCBs) whose treatment in a soil environment was only poorly understood; and (4) Attempts at technology applications by personnel who were not familiar with all aspects of the technology. Despite these barriers to commercialization, there have been several successful small-scale commercial projects completed. In addition, we have developed techniques that have greatly enhanced the ability of WRF to decrease the concentrations of extremely hydrophobic contaminants (e.g. high molecular weight PAHs, PCBs and DDT). Future directions in development and applications will be discussed in light of experience in technology field performance and new developments in enhancing fungal pollutant degradation.