Research progress on microbial degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls

As one of the persistent organic pollutants,polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) are rarely degraded in the environment,while biodegradation is an effective way to remove PCBs from contaminated soil and sediments.This paper reviewed the effects of aerobic oxidation,anaerobic dechlorination,and biosurfactants in the microbial degradation of PCBs,introduced the application and potentials of coupling several removal methods,and pointed out the applied issues and the directions of further studies.