Lessons learned from 20 years of molecular biological tools in petroleum hydrocarbon remediation

Stakeholders of petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated (PHC) sites aim to meet remediation goals cost-effectively. But contaminated are typically complex, and when inefficient strategies implemented, time money wasted. Various can be implemented for site almost all at some point involve a biological component. Therefore, during characterization, seeing the complete picture by obtaining multiple lines evidence—chemistry (concentrations contaminants daughter products), geochemistry (redox status, electron acceptors, donors), microbiology (species their genes catalyzing biodegradation reactions, i.e., functional genes), contaminant degradation ongoing baseline (stable isotope methods)—is critically important selecting best strategy. Additionally, molecular evidence is monitoring treatment progress informing decisions retreat, change treatments, or transition monitored natural attenuation.