Abstract
Bioremediation is an emerging innovative technology in the field of environmental science and engineering for low energy consumption, high efficiency, and environmental safety. In this technology, microorganisms are employed to destroy or reduce the concentration of hazardous wastes on a contaminated site such as water, soils, sludges, and waste streams from various processes due to increased population, industrialization and urbanization. It comprises rhizoremediation (plant and microbe) and phytoremediation (plants). Phytoremediation consists of mitigating pollutant concentrations in contaminated soils, water, or air, with plants whereas rhizoremediation involves the removal of specific contaminants from contaminated sites by mutual interaction of plant roots and suitable microbial flora. Because bioremediation seems to be a promising alternative to conventional clean‐up technologies, substantial research is increasing in this field rapidly.
This chapter presents a state‐of‐the‐art report on past and existing knowledge of water remediation technologies for the environmentalist who evaluates the quality of environment, implements and evaluates the remediation alternatives at a given contaminated site. This chapter also aims to provide a basic understanding of bioremediation technologies for water recycling to the reader. The technical descriptions provided in this document focus on different aspects of water remediation such as; (1) water management (water re‐use), (2) an overview of bioremediation in waste water treatment and ground water contamination, (3) bio‐based waste water treatment, (4) membrane separation in bioremediation, and (5) waste recovery and reuse. The scope of environmental bioremediation extends to: inorganic compounds containing elements such as arsenic, mercury, chromium, fluoride; substances such as cyanide, fly ash disposed sites, engineered phytotreatment technologies; and organics such as petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, and explosives. Chemical industries release a variety of toxic waste (inorganic and organic) which constitute as hazardous waste and pose potential public health or environmental risk. Thus the article concludes with a case study of bioremediation of inorganic and organic waste for remediation.