This volume presents detailed descriptions of methods for evaluating, monitoring and assessing bioremediation of soil contaminated with organic pollutants or heavy metals. Traditional soil investigation techniques, including chemical, physical and microbiological methods, are complemented by the most suitable modern methods, including bioreporter technology, immunological, ecotoxicological and molecular assays. Step-by-step procedures, lists of required equipment and reagents and notes on evaluation and quality control allow immediate application

This volume presents detailed descriptions of methods for evaluating, monitoring and assessing bioremediation of soil contaminated with organic pollutants or heavy metals. Traditional soil investigation techniques, including chemical, physical and microbiological methods, are complemented by the most suitable modern methods, including bioreporter technology, immunological, ecotoxicological and molecular assays. Step-by-step procedures, lists of required equipment and reagents and notes on evaluation and quality control allow immediate application

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.

The objective of this hugely important text is to contribute to the existing knowledge on soil pollution and remediation. Stress is given to the critical assessment of the used analyses and methods for study effects in combined chemical pollution (organic pollutants and pesticides, metals) on soil biota and fertility. Also featured is, among other things, an evaluation of specific aspects of risk assessment, and an assessment of advanced technologies for soil remediation.

Written by an international team of authors from a range of educational, medical and research establishments, this book is an essential reference for advanced students and researchers in the areas of environmental sciences, ecology, agriculture, environmental health and medicine, in addition to industry and government personnel responsible for environmental regulations and directives. A Handbook of Environmental Toxicology focuses on two key aspects: human disorders and ecotoxicology as affected by major toxins originating from biological sources and pollutants, as well as radiation generated spontaneously or as a result of anthropogenic activity. A diverse array of these potentially harmful agents regularly appear in the atmosphere, soil, water and food, compromising both human health and biodiversity in natural and managed ecosystems.

The book provides reader with a comprehensive up-to-date overview of various aspects of soil pollutants manifestation of toxicity. The book highlights their interactions with soil constituents, their toxicity to agro-ecosystem & human health, methodologies of toxicity assessment along with remediation technologies for the polluted land by citing case studies. It gives special emphasis on scenario of soil pollution threats in developing countries and ways to counteract these in low cost ways which have so far been ignored. It also explicitly highlights the need for soil protection policy and identifies its key considerations after analyzing basic functions of soil and the types of threats perceived. This book will be a useful resource for graduate students and researchers in the field of environmental and agricultural sciences, as well as for personnel involved in environmental impact assessment and policy making.

Nowadays, textile units utilize a number of dyes, chemicals, reagents, and solvents to impart the desired quality to fabrics, and generate a substantial quantity of effluents/contaminants, which cause severe environmental problems if disposed of without proper treatment. In view of several surveys carried out through research papers, books, technical articles, and general reports published in high-repute academic societies, Handbook of Textile Effluent Remediation provides a detailed narration of the acceptable methods of treating textile wastewater, such as active ozonation, membrane filtration, and adsorption. The book discusses emerging and suitable treatment systems that are viable, efficient, and economical. In this context, it provides an array of several traditional as well as advanced treatment practices for textile effluents. It covers research-oriented descriptions of textile wastewater treatment that can be adopted by scientific communities, academicians, and undergraduate and postgraduate students of industrial engineering, materials science and engineering, physics, and chemistry. It offers several interesting methodologies and aspects of current dimensional research through user-friendly content, tables, and figures and provides up-to-date literature on important and useful information for textile effluents, their impact on the environment, and advanced remediation processes. Needless to say, this book is of immense use to global researchers, academicians, and consultants engaged in various streams of wastewater treatment science.

This book discusses new and innovative trends and techniques in the removal of toxic and or refractory pollutants through various environmental biotechnological processes from wastewater, both at the laboratory and industrial scale. It focuses primarily on environmentally-friendly technologies which respect the principles of sustainable development, including the advanced trends in remediation through an approach of environmental biotechnological processes from either industrial or sewage wastewater. Features: Examines the fate and occurrence of refractory pollutants in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the potential approaches for their removal. Highlights advanced remediation procedures involving various microbiological and biochemical processes. Assesses and compares the potential application of numerous existing treatment techniques and introduces new, emerging technologies. Removal of Refractory Pollutants from Wastewater Treatment Plants is suitable for practicing engineers, researchers, water utility managers, and students who seek an excellent introduction and basic knowledge in the principles of environmental bioremediation technologies.

This book contains a collection of different research activities that include the biodegradation compounds with contaminant characteristics and special products of different interests as an added value product or that allows following up various biological processes. The chapters consider the degradation of contaminant compounds generated by industrial activities, i.e., oil industry by-product compounds and halogen compounds or compound generated by natural phenomena such as tsunamis, which require interventions to recover damaged soils. In addition, the book contains chapters that involve special product degradation processes such as chlorophyll, which corresponds to a biological process indicator as photosynthesis.

This edited book collates the research done mainly in Africa on vermicomposting and related technologies that can assist African smallholder farmers in making nutrient rich organic fertilizers from their animal and crop residue wastes. Information on the development of organic sources of liquid fertilizer development for hydroponics is also presented. The book presents research findings on vermicomposting in a simplified way that will allow farmers and extension workers to adopt the indicated technologies. The book also covers critical aspects of standardization of vermicompost preparation, earthworm biology, nutrient enrichment of composts and organic liquid fertilizer production. Vermicomposting is a technology that employs earthworms to enhance the biodegradation and fertilizer value of organic wastes. The earthworms optimize the biodegradation ecosystem during composting, resulting in a final nutrient rich product with more recalcitrant forms of carbon and much lower levels of veterinary antibiotics and their metabolites. Vermicompost as an organic fertilizer is highly preferred over other forms of soil enhancers. A lot of research has been done on vermicompost and related activities in Africa but remain scattered across various publications. The book is an invaluable source of information for farmers especially those practicing organic crop production, vermicomposting researchers, as well as extension workers.