An up-to-date overview of the characterization, risk assessment and remediation of mercury-contaminated sites. The book summarizes, for the first time, works from Europe, Russia and the American continent, and review chapters are supplemented by detailed, international case studies.

Mercury is a heavy metal with extreme toxicity, the ability to biomagnify, and long range atmospheric transport of its gaseous form. Past and present industrial uses of mercury have resulted in the pollution of soils, groundwater, rivers, and marine ecosystems worldwide - the clean-up of which, using standard technology, is either not feasible or is prohibitively costly. A low cost and environmentally friendly alternative is bioremediation: the use of microbes or plants (phytoremediation) to remediate contaminated sites. In this timely book, established mercury experts review the latest research in this area, including the genetic engineering of bacteria and plants. The gap between laboratory research and field application is bridged using the following case studies: an abandoned chlor-alkali electrolysis factory in Kazhakhstan, a former PVC plant in Albania, and the Madeira River Basin in the Amazon region. The remaining chapters cover: the mercury-cell process of the chlor-alkali electrolysis industry, a pilot plant for wastewater bioremediation, and a comparison of the efficiency of microbial bioremediation to clean-up three types of industrial wastewater. The book covers the complete range from laboratory scale research to full scale industrial operation and shows a multitude of options for future mercury bioremediation technologies. It will be essential reading for research scientists, graduate students, and other specialists interested in mercury bioremediation. It is also recommended reading for environmental microbiologists, chemists, and engineers.

Bioremediation of Petroleum Contaminated Sites provides important background information on the major aspects of technologies and related research dealing with the use of biodegradation for treating environmental contamination by toxic organic substances. The book can be used as a broad reference base for developing programs for in situ biorestoration of fuel contaminated soil and groundwater. A detailed appendix includes supplementary technical information for readers needing in-depth information. Bioremediation of Petroleum Contaminated Sites is an excellent reference for managers, consultants, regulators, hazardous waste professionals, contractors, students, and environmental researchers.

The book, Bioremediation of Toxic Metal(loid)s, describes the state-of-the-art and potential of emerging technologies on bioremediation of toxic metal(loid)s. It has a compilation of the available comprehensive knowledge of the fundamentals and advancements in the field of bioremediation of toxic metal(loid)s. The mechanisms, applications, and current advancements of various bioremediation strategies used for metal(loid)s have been described in 21 chapters contributed by leading experts from different institutes, universities, and research laboratories from various countries across the globe including Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. This book offers a bird’s eye view on various bioremediation technologies based on a variety of biological agents viz. plants, bacteria, algae, fungi etc., used for environmental clean-up of toxic metal(loid)s.

Microbial Biodegradation and Bioremediation brings together experts in relevant fields to describe the successful application of microbes and their derivatives for bioremediation of potentially toxic and relatively novel compounds. This single-source reference encompasses all categories of pollutants and their applications in a convenient, comprehensive package. Our natural biodiversity and environment is in danger due to the release of continuously emerging potential pollutants by anthropogenic activities. Though many attempts have been made to eradicate and remediate these noxious elements, every day thousands of xenobiotics of relatively new entities emerge, thus worsening the situation. Primitive microorganisms are highly adaptable to toxic environments, and can reduce the load of toxic elements by their successful transformation and remediation. Describes many novel approaches of microbial bioremediation including genetic engineering, metagenomics, microbial fuel cell technology, biosurfactants and biofilm-based bioremediation Introduces relatively new hazardous elements and their bioremediation practices including oil spills, military waste water, greenhouse gases, polythene wastes, and more Provides the most advanced techniques in the field of bioremediation, including insilico approach, microbes as pollution indicators, use of bioreactors, techniques of pollution monitoring, and more