ஐ.எஸ்.எஸ்.என்: 2471-9315
Krishna Kumar*
Biodegradation or biological degradation is the rate of biological conversion of organic and inorganic compounds
by living organisms, particularly the microorganisms. It involves conversion of complex compounds to simple
non-toxic which acts as nutrients to microorganism, degrades organic compounds by secreting biosurfactants.
Biotransformation is a process made by an organism to modify any chemical compound which ends with mineral
compounds like H2O, CO2, NH4+, etc. It is also referred as mineralization. It is used for partial biodegradation
of organic complexes involving few reactions. Bioremediation is a process of utilizing microorganisms to remove
the environmental pollutants i.e. toxic wastes, hydrocarbons, etc. The removal of organic wastes by microbes for
environmental clean-up is the basic principle of bioremediation. Other terminology used for bioremediation is biotreatment,
bio-reclamation and bio-restoration.