Strategies to Ameliorate Soils Contaminated with Boron Compounds

Abstract

Boron derivatives are widely used in everyday modern lifestyle as fertilizer in agriculture, in ceramic and glass products, as melting products, in metallurgic furnaces, and others. The North West of Argentina, where Salta province is situated, is one of the most important boron mineral reserves in the world. This province is ranked as the first Latin American borate producer, the first world producer of hydroboracite (69,025 tons in 2012), and the third world producer of borates (179,358 tons in 2012). This implies an intensive exploitation of boron minerals, which brings out major environmental pollution. There are many places contaminated with boron compounds in the province and many strategies have been developed to purge contaminated soils, from physicochemical to biological technologies all around the world. Biological remediation using microorganisms implies various interesting mechanisms, such as biomineralization and exopolysaccharide formation. This chapter summarizes the most common technologies used in remediation of boron-contaminated soils, particularly in Salta, and trends in bioremediation strategies using native actinobacteria.