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DDT remediation in contaminated soils: a review of recent studies

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Abstract

Over the past few decades significant progress has been made in research on DDT degradation in the environment. This review is an update of some of the recent studies on the degradation and biodegradation pathways of DDT and its metabolites, particularly in soils. The latest reports on human toxicity shows that DDT intake is still occurring even in countries that banned its use decades ago. Ageing, sequestration and formation of toxic metabolites during the degradation processes pose environmental challenges and result in difficulties in bioremediation of DDT contaminated soils. Degradation enhancement strategies such as the addition of chelators, low molecular organic acids, co-solvent washing and the use of sodium and seaweeds as ameliorant have been studied to accelerate degradation. This review describes and discusses the recent challenges and degradation enhancement strategies for DDT degradation by potentially cost effective procedures based on bioremediation.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the University of South Australia through a University President Scholarship (UPS) in collaboration with Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation (CERAR), University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, Australia

    Simi Sudharshan, Ravi Naidu, Megharaj Mallavarapu & Nanthi Bolan

  2. Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE), Mawson Lakes, SA, Australia

    Simi Sudharshan, Ravi Naidu, Megharaj Mallavarapu & Nanthi Bolan

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  1. Simi Sudharshan
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Correspondence to Ravi Naidu.

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Sudharshan, S., Naidu, R., Mallavarapu, M. et al. DDT remediation in contaminated soils: a review of recent studies. Biodegradation 23, 851–863 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-012-9575-4

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