Several techniques exist to treat contaminated aquifers. These range from excavation and subsequent treatment of groundwater or pump and treat methods to in-situ remediation via biological or chemical transformation of hazardous materials in non-toxic compounds. Of these techniques, in-situ bioremediation has the potential to provide an efficient and cost-effective remediation procedure while minimizing site disturbance. Bioremediation is defined as the biological breakdown of organic compounds by microorganisms to non-harmful end products. To implement and monitor bioremediation a fundamental understanding of how organic compounds are transformed and which microorganisms are involved is needed. Our research is currently focused on microbial transformations of naphthenic acids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and BTEX compounds
