Microbial Processes

The abundance of organic pollutants found in wastewater affect urban surface waters. Traditional wastewater management technologies focus on the removal of suspended solids, nutrients and bacteria, however, new pollutants such as synthetic or naturally occurring chemicals are often not monitored in the environment despite having the potential to enter the environment and cause adverse ecological and human health effects. Collectively referred to as "emerging contaminants," they are mostly derived from domestic activities and occur in trace concentrations ranging from pico to micrograms per liter. Environmental contaminants are resistant to conventional wastewater treatment processes and most of them remain unaffected, causing contamination of receiving water. This in turn leads to the need for advanced wastewater treatment processes capable of removing environmental contaminants to ensure safe fresh water sources. This book provides an up-to-date overview of the current bioremediation strategies, including their limitations, challenges and their potential application to remove environmental pollutants. It also introduces the latest trends and advances in environmental bioremediation, and presents the state-of-the-art in biological and chemical wastewater treatment processes. As such, it will appeal to researchers and policy-makers, as well as undergraduate and graduate environmental sciences students.

Microbial ecology is the study of interactions among microbes in natural environments and their roles in biogeochemical cycles, food web dynamics, and the evolution of life. Microbes are the most numerous organisms in the biosphere and mediate many critical reactions in elemental cycles and biogeochemical reactions. Because microbes are essential players in the carbon cycle and related processes, microbial ecology is a vital science for understanding the role of the biosphere in global warming and the response of natural ecosystems to climate change. This novel textbook discusses the major processes carried out by viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and other protists - the microbes - in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems. It focuses on biogeochemical processes, starting with primary production and the initial fixation of carbon into cellular biomass, before exploring how that carbon is degraded in both oxygen-rich (oxic) and oxygen-deficient (anoxic) environments. These biogeochemical processes are affected by ecological interactions, including competition for limiting nutrients, viral lysis, and predation by various protists in soils and aquatic habitats. The book neatly connects processes occurring at the micron scale to events happening at the global scale, including the carbon cycle and its connection to climate change issues. A final chapter is devoted to symbiosis and other relationships between microbes and larger organisms. Microbes have huge impacts not only on biogeochemical cycles, but also on the ecology and evolution of more complex forms of life, including Homo sapiens..

The development of biotechnology over the last 20 years, and particularly the use of recombinant DNA techniques, has rapidly expanded the opportu- ties for human benefits from living resources. Efforts to reduce pollution, p- vent environmental damage, combat microbial infection, improve food production, and so on can each involve fermentation or the environmental - lease of microorganisms. Many products of fermentation technology, such as alcoholic beverages, bread, antibiotics, amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, and others, have been influenced by the progress of recombinant DNA techniques. The development of new products or the more efficient manufacturing of those already being produced often involve the use of microorganisms as cell fac- ries for many productions and biotransformations. Microbial Processes and Products is intended to provide practical expe- mental laboratory procedures for a wide range of processes and products me- ated by microorganisms. Although not an exhaustive treatise, it provides a detailed “step-by-step” description of the most recent developments in such applied biotechnological processes. The detailed protocols we provide are cross-referenced in the Notes section, contain critical details, lists of problems and their troubleshooting, as well as safety recommendations that may not n- mally appear in journal articles and can be particularly useful for those un- miliar with specific techniques.

Halogenated organic compounds constitute one of the largest groups of environmental chemicals. The industrial production of new halogenated organic compounds has increased throughout the last century peaking in the 1960s, and continuing in widespread use today. Organohalides are integral to a variety of industrial applications, including use as solvents, degreasing agents, biocides, pharmaceuticals, plasticizers, hydraulic and heat transfer fluids, and intermediates for chemical synthesis, to name a few. It is important to recognize the beneficial aspects of halogenated organic compounds, as well as their potentially deleterious impact on the environment and health. Recognition ofthe adverse environmental effects ofmanytypes oforganohalide compounds has led to efforts to reduce or eliminate the most problematic ones. Although organohalide compounds are typically considered to be anthropogenic industrial compounds, they have their counterpart in several thousands of natural biogenic and geogenic organohalides, representing most classes of organic chemicals. Natural sources account for a significant portion of the global organohalogen budget. This volume authored by recognized experts in the field provides a current perspective on how both natural and synthetic organohalides are formed and degraded, and how these processes are incorporated into a global halogen cycle. The focus is on microbial processes, since these play a major role both in the production and degradation, i. e. , cycling of halogenated organic compounds inthe environment. This book is organized into five parts. Part I, Introduction, provides a global perspective on the issues of organohalides and their fate in the environment.

Microbial systems in extreme environments and in the deep biosphere may be analogous to potential life on other planetary bodies and hence may be used to investigate the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. This book examines the mode and nature of links between geological processes and microbial activities and their significance for the origin and evolution of life on the Earth and possibly on other planets. This is a truly interdisciplinary science with societal relevance.

Microorganisms have simultaneously served and assaulted man throughout history. Man is totally dependent on some microbes for life processes, while remaining subject to the destructive capacities of others in diseases not yet conquered.Microbes can be marshaled to aid in solving many important global problems including food shortages, resource recovery and reuse, energy shortages, and pollution. Microbiology is particularly suited to make important contributions to human needs in developing countries, yet it has received comparatively little attention. The range of possible applications covers uses by individuals and industries in rural settings, villages, and cities.This book covers examples of microbial processes that may be useful in developing countries. Although many of these processes may not have a direct and immediate use, their scope and diversity should serve to indicate the strong potential for microbial applications.

A final chapter is devoted to symbiosis and other relationships between microbes and larger organisms.

Microbial Technology: Microbial Processes, Volume 1, describes the production and uses of economic bacteria, yeast, molds, and viruses, and reviews the technologies associated with products of microbial metabolism. It is part of a two-volume set that emerged from a worldwide survey of industrial microbiology and its contributions to agriculture, industry, medicine, and environmental control. The book contains 17 chapters that cover the development of bioinsecticides and the large-scale bioprocessing of concentrated lactic acid bacteria with emphasis on the commercial use of the resulting culture. It includes discussions of the production of single-cell protein for use in food or feed; production of yeasts and yeast products; production of butanol-acetone by fermentation; microbial production of amino acids; microbial production of antibiotics; production of microbial enzymes; microbial production of nucleosides; and production of organic acids by fermentation nucleotides. The remaining chapters cover plant cell suspension cultures and their biosynthetic potential; polysaccharides; microbial transformation of steroids and sterols; the production of vitamin B12; microbial process for riboflavin production; and the production of carotenoids.