Biostabilization

Biostabilization is act of an organism or biological materials altering the chemical state of a substance such that it is more stable. This generally means, Reduces the risk posed by a waste by converting the contaminant into a less soluble, immobile, bioavailable, and/or toxic form. It is a type of Biotransformation. (1)

Biostabilization includes other concepts such as Rhizofiltration. Rhizofiltration is the adsorption onto plant roots or absorption into plant roots of contaminants that are in solution surrounding the root zone (rhizosphere). (2)

Metals

Metals are one of the main focuses of biostabilization. Since elemental metals can’t be broken down by non-nuclear forces into anything, the only way to mitigate their toxicity is to transform them into something less toxic. Biostabilization is one of the main ways to do this.

Brown Rot Fungi

Some species of brown rot fungi have been found to have hypertolerance towards copper and copper compounds. Furthermore, some of them can stabilize the the metals into less toxic forms, such as copper acetate. (3)

Sources:

1. Marques, A. P., Rangel, A. O., & Castro, P. M. (2009). Remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils: phytoremediation as a potentially promising clean-up technology. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 39(8), 622-654.

2. M.S. Abdullahi, Chapter 18 – Soil Contamination, Remediation and Plants: Prospects and Challenges, Editor(s): Khalid Rehman Hakeem, Muhammad Sabir, Münir Öztürk, Ahmet Ruhi Mermut, Soil Remediation and Plants, Academic Press,
2015, Pages 525-546, ISBN 9780127999371,

3. Akgul, Ayfer, and Ali Akgul. “Mycoremediation of copper: exploring the metal tolerance of brown rot fungi.” BioResources 13.3 (2018): 7155-7171.