This book contains a collection of different biodegradation research activities where biological processes take place. The book has two main sections: A) Polymers and Surfactants Biodegradation and B) Biodegradation: Microbial Behaviour.
The quality of agricultural soils are always under threat from chemical contaminants, which ultimately affect the productivity and safety of crops. Besides agrochemicals, a new generation of substances invades the soil through irrigation with reclaimed wastewater and pollutants of organic origin such as sewage sludge or cattle manure. Emerging pollutants such as pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials and microplastics are now present in agricultural soils, but the understanding of their impact on soil quality is still limited. With focus on in situ bioremediation, this book provides an exhaustive analysis of the current biological methodologies for recovering polluted agricultural soils as well as monitoring the effectiveness of bioremediation.
This new volume offers comprehensive information on microbial adaptation for pesticide degradation. Among the many topics covered in its 20 chapters are a general description of enhanced biodegradation as it occurs in an agricultural context; the microbial aspects of enhanced biodegradation, including the genetics, biochemistry, and ecology of pesticide-degrading microorganisms; and the potential impact of enhanced degradation on pesticide fate in aquatic systems and groundwater. Practical options for the management of enhanced biodegradation are also examined, both to enable continued agricultural use of susceptible pesticides and also to exploit the degrading capacity of microorganisms for waste disposal and environmental remediation.
In this volume, experts from universities, government labs and industry share their findings on the microbiological, biochemical and molecular aspects of biodegradation and bioremediation. The text covers numerous topics, including: bioavailability, biodegradation of various pollutants, microbial community dynamics, properties and engineering of important biocatalysts, and methods for monitoring bioremediation processes. Microbial processes are environmentally compatible and can be integrated with non-biological processes to detoxify, degrade and immobilize environmental contaminants.
Addresses a Global Challenge to Sustainable DevelopmentAdvances in Biodegradation and Bioremediation of Industrial Waste examines and compiles the latest information on the industrial waste biodegradation process and provides a comprehensive review. Dedicated to reducing pollutants generated by agriculturally contaminated soil, and plastic waste fr
Pesticides in the soil environment - an overview. Pesticide sources to the soil and principles of spray physics. The retention processes: mechanisms. Sorption estimates for modeling. Abiotic transformations in water, sediments, and soil. Biological transformation processes of pesticides. Volatilization and vapor transport processes. Organic chemical transport to Groundwater. Movement of pesticides into surface waters. Modeling pesticide fate in soils. Efficacy of soil-applied pesticides. Impact of pesticides on the environment. Risk/benefit and regulations. Chemical index.
Abatement of Environmental Pollutants: Trends and Strategies addresses new technologies and provides strategies for environmental scientists, microbiologists and biotechnologists to help solve problems associated with the treatment of industrial wastewater. The book helps readers solve pollution challenges using microorganisms in bioremediation technologies, including discussions on global technologies that have been adopted for the treatment of industrial wastewater and sections on the lack of proper management. Moreover, limited space, more stringent waste disposal regulations and public consciousness have made the present techniques expensive and impractical. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop sustainable management technologies for industries and municipalities. To remove the damaging effect of organic pollutants on the environment, various new technologies for their degradation have been recently discovered. - Covers bioremediation of petrochemical pollutants, such as Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, Ethyl Benzene, and phenolic compound - Includes discussions on genetic engineering microbes and their potential in pollution abatement - Contains information on plant growth promoting bacteria and their role in environment management
When first developed, chlorinated pesticides such as DDT, dieldrin, and mirex were received with open arms, quickly becoming popular as effective, economic agents against pests. But evidence began to mount that residues of these chemicals remained in the environment, not breaking down, often appearing in plants and animals. By the late seventies many pesticides had achieved a terrible notoriety and were subsequently banned in a number of countries. Of tremendous concern, then, is the persistence of pesticides in the environment. The major thrust of research and development in the area of pesticides has properly been the creation of substances that are both effective and degradable. Yet in order to successfully promote the use of biodegradable pesticides, one must fully understand the mechanism of degradation, and it is to this vital subject that we address ourselves in the present volume. According to the Biodegradation Task Force, Safety of Chemicals Com mittee, Brussels (1978), biodegradation may be defined as the molecular degradation of an organic substance resulting from the complex action of living organisms. A substance is said to be biodegraded to an environmentally acceptable extent when environmentally undesirable properties are lost. Loss of some characteristic function or property of substance by biodegradation may be referred to as biological transformation.
SOIL BIOREMEDIATION A practical guide to the environmentally sustainable bioremediation of soil Soil Bioremediation: An Approach Towards Sustainable Technology provides the first comprehensive discussion of sustainable and effective techniques for soil bioremediation involving microbes. Presenting established and updated research on emerging trends in bioremediation, this book provides contributions from both experimental and numerical researchers who provide reports on significant field trials. Soil Bioremediation instructs the reader on several different environmentally friendly bioremediation techniques, including: Bio-sorption Bio-augmentation Bio-stimulation Emphasizing molecular approaches and biosynthetic pathways of microbes, this one-of-a-kind reference focuses heavily on the role of microbes in the degradation and removal of xenobiotic substances from the environment and presents a unique management and conservation perspective in the field of environmental microbiology. Soil Bioremediation is perfect for undergraduate students in the fields of environmental science, microbiology, limnology, freshwater ecology and microbial biotechnology. It is also invaluable for researchers and scientists working in the areas of environmental science, environmental microbiology, and waste management.
Life on the planet depends on microbial activity. The recycling of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, oxygen, phosphate and all the other elements that constitute living matter are continuously in flux: microorganisms participate in key steps in these processes and without them life would cease within a few short years. The comparatively recent advent of man-made chemicals has now challenged the environment: where degradation does not occur, accumulation must perforce take place. Surprisingly though, even the most recalcitrant of molecules are gradually broken down and very few materials are truly impervious to microbial attack. Microorganisms, by their rapid growth rates, have the most rapid turn-over of their DNA of all living cells. Consequently they can evolve altered genes and therefore produce novel enzymes for handling "foreign" compounds - the xenobiotics - in a manner not seen with such effect in other organisms. Evolution, with the production of micro-organisms able to degrade molecules hitherto intractable to breakdown, is therefore a continuing event. Now, through the agency of genetic manipulation, it is possible to accelerate this process of natural evolution in a very directed manner. The time-scale before a new microorganism emerges that can utilize a recalcitrant molecule has now been considerably shortened by the application of well-understood genetic principles into microbiology. However, before these principles can be successfully used, it is essential that we understand the mechanism by which molecules are degraded, otherwise we shall not know where best to direct these efforts.