Single Cell Protein From The Enzymatic Hydrolysis Of Chitin

In recent years public awareness of the long term toxic affects heavy metal ions in waters and wastewaters has increased significantly. Environmental agencies have been imposing more and more stringent discharge limits on industries involved in processes using metal ions. Numerous industries produce aqueous effluents con taining metal ions and particularly copper and cadmium. Copper sulfate is used on a large scale in the electroplating industries. In addition, copper salts are used as fungicides, timber preservatives, insecticides, paint corrosion inhibitors and in dyestuffs. Cadmium is used in the manufacture of nickel-cadmium batteries, as a corrosion inhibitor and control rods in the nuclear industry. The European Com munity has listed cadmium as one of the most dangerous metal due to its toxicity, persistence and bioaccumulation in List 1 of its Directive 76/464/EEC. Therefore, it is important that methods for the removal of these metal ions are found and that the mechanism of removal is characterized and understood. A number of adsorb ents have been identified which are capable of removing copper (Panday et aI. , 1985; Ho et aI. , 1996; Low and Lee, 1987; Low et aI. , 1993; Quek et aI. , 1998) and cadmium (Battacharya and Venkobachar, 1984; Namasivayam and Ranganathan, 1995; Periasamy and Namasivayam, 1994) from aqueous solutions. Sorption kin etic models have been proposed for some systems.

White biotechnology, or industrial biotechnology as it is also known, refers to the use of living cells and/or their enzymes to create industrial products that are more easily degradable, require less energy, create less waste during production and sometimes perform better than products created using traditional chemical processes. Over the last decade considerable progress has been made in white biotechnology research, and further major scientific and technological breakthroughs are expected in the future. Fungi are ubiquitous in nature and have been sorted out from different habitats, including extreme environments (high temperature, low temperature, salinity and pH), and may be associated with plants (epiphytic, endophytic and rhizospheric). The fungal strains are beneficial as well as harmful for human beings. The beneficial fungal strains may play important roles in the agricultural, industrial, and medical sectors. The fungal strains and their products (enzymes, bioactive compounds, and secondary metabolites) are very useful for industry (e.g., the discovery of penicillin from Penicillium chrysogenum). This discovery was a milestone in the development of white biotechnology as the industrial production of penicillin and antibiotics using fungi moved industrial biotechnology into the modern era, transforming it into a global industrial technology. Since then, white biotechnology has steadily developed and now plays a key role in several industrial sectors, providing both high value nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products. The fungal strains and bioactive compounds also play an important role in environmental cleaning. This volume covers the latest developments and research in white biotechnology with a focus on diversity and enzymes.

Soil harbours a wide range of microorganisms with biotic potentials which can be explored for social benefits. The book Frontiers in Soil and Environmental Microbiology comprises an overview of the complex inter-relationship between beneficial soil microbes and crop plants, and highlights the potential for utilisation to enhance crop productivity, bioremediation and soil health. The book focusses on important areas of research such as biocide production, pesticide degradation and detoxification, microbial decay processes, remediation of soils contaminated with toxic metals, industrial wastes, and hydrocarbon pollutants. Features Presents the state of the art of microbial research in environmental and soil microbiology Discusses an integrated and systematic compilation of microbes in the soil environment and its role in agriculture and plant growth and productivity Elucidates microbial application in environmental remediation Explores advanced genomics topics for uncultivable microbes of soil

Chemical Degradation Methods for Wastes and Pollutants focuses on established and emerging chemical procedures for the management of pollutants in industrial wastewater and the environment. This reference offers an in-depth explanation of the degradation process, mechanisms, and control factors affecting each method, as well as issues crucial to the application of these approaches in real-world treatment sites. It examines ten of the most common and useful chemical technologies for environmental remediation and sanitation of industrial waste streams and offers implementation guidelines and examples of remediation strategies that are crucial to effective wastewater cleansing.