Bioremediation of treated wood with fungi

Abstract

The authors have developed technologies for fungal bioremediation of waste wood treated with oilborne or metal-based preservatives. The technologies are based on specially formulated inoculum of wood-decay fungi, obtained through strain selection to obtain preservative-tolerant fungi. This waste management approach provides a product with reduced wood volume and the capacity to collect metals for reuse, thereby preventing environmental contamination. In this chapter we describe our research on the bioremediation of CCA-treated wood waste with brown-rot wood-decay fungi. The paper contains new data and summarizes past research. The research includes (1) isolating and characterizing CCA-tolerant fungi, (2) defining economical materials and methods to prepare and package viable inoculum of metal-tolerant decay fungi, (3) establishing treatment procedures for the remediation and degradation process, and (4) conducting a laboratory scale-up to evaluate the method on solid lumber treated with CCA.

Citation

Illman, Barbara L.; Yang, Vina W. 2006. Bioremediation of treated wood with fungi. Environmental impacts of treated wood. Boca Raton, FL : CRC/Taylor & Francis, 2006: Pages 413-426.