Sustainable development requires the development and promotion of environmental
management and a constant search for green technologies to treat a wide range
of aquatic and terrestrial habitats contaminated by increasing anthropogenic
activities with the main sources of contaminants being the chemical industries.
Bioremediation is a technique that uses living organisms in order to degrade or
transform contaminants into their less toxic forms. It is based on the
existence of microorganisms with capacity to attack the compounds on the
enzymatic level. Bioremediation is an increasingly popular low-cost alternative
to conventional methods for treating wastes and contaminated media with the
possibility to degrade these contaminants using natural microbial activity
mediated by different consortia of microbes. Over the last few years, the
scientific literature has revealed the progressive emergence of various
bioremediation techniques. BIOREMEDIATION AND SUSTAINABILITY: Research and
Applications presents an up-to-date and comprehensive collection of chapters
prepared in bioremediation technology research and application. The strategies
covered in this volume can be applied in situ or ex situ, depending on the site
in which they will be applied. In situ is the treatment done in the site of the
contamination and ex situ involves the removal of soil or water to subsequent
treatment. There is a wide variety of techniques that have been developed in
the past and are covered in this volume, such as natural attenuation,
bioaugmentation, biostimulation, biosorption, composting, phytoremediation,
rhizoremediation and bioleaching.
