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Engineering of Improved Biocatalysts in Bioremediation

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Biodegradation and Bioremediation

Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 2))

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Abstract

Over the past few decades enormous quantities of industrial pollutants have been released into the environment. A large number of them, particularly those structurally related to natural compounds, are readily degraded or removed by microorganisms found in soil and water. However, superimposed on the rich variety of pollutants present in the environment are an increasing number of novel industrial compounds not found extensively in nature. A significant amount of these industrial chemicals are released into the environment deliberately, to function as pesticides or to act as wood preservatives or electrical insulators. Many of these chemicals, produced on a large scale as part of the normal activities of industrialized societies, are considered hazardous to humans, plants and animals. These xenobiotic compounds are usually removed slowly and tend to accumulate in the environment (Gibson and Parales 2000). The local concentration of these contaminants depends on the rate at which the compound is released, its stability and mobility in the environment, and its rate of biological or non-biological removal (Harayama 1997; Ellis 2000; Janssen et al. 2001). Some of these chemicals have long half-lives in the soil, e.g. the environmental persistence of the insecticide DDT ranges between 3–10 years, chlordane ranges from 2–4 years and HCH persists for up to 11 years. Due to the high degree of toxicity, their accumulation can cause severe environmental problems.

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  1. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California, 92521, USA

    Wilfred Chen & Ashok Mulchandani

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  1. Wilfred Chen
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  2. Ashok Mulchandani
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Petrozyme Technologies Inc., 7496 Wellington Road 34, R.R.#, Guelph, Ontario, N1H 6H9, Canada

    Ajay Singh (Director R&D, Adjunct Faculty Member) (Director R&D, Adjunct Faculty Member)

  2. Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Ajay Singh (Director R&D, Adjunct Faculty Member) & Owen P. Ward (Professor of Microbial Biotechnology) (Director R&D, Adjunct Faculty Member) &  (Professor of Microbial Biotechnology)

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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Chen, W., Mulchandani, A. (2004). Engineering of Improved Biocatalysts in Bioremediation. In: Singh, A., Ward, O.P. (eds) Biodegradation and Bioremediation. Soil Biology, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06066-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06066-7_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-05929-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-06066-7

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