But, since the bacteria had no carbon to process, they gave off both oxygen and chloride as byproducts. His team has confirmed this same phenomenon in the 15 species they have isolated. Coates has worked not just to understand the details of this metabolic process, but to apply it. Cleanup of contaminating hydrocarbons, such as oil or benzene, is one major potential application. Unfortunately, they quickly use up most of the available oxygen in the site, be it an aquifer, subsurface soil, or marine sediment.
Degradation slows to a crawl.
That's bad news for flora and fauna in the area and for folks who might be exposed to these compounds via groundwater. Bioremediation efforts often focus on trying to re-oxygenate contaminated sites so that the breakdown process can continue. But reintroducing oxygen is costly and difficult. For one thing, oxygen isn't very soluble, and the breakdown bacteria are living and working in a liquid environment. Chlorite is very soluble, however, and it offers a way for Coates's group of bacteria to supply oxygen to the bacterial cleanup crew.