Hazardous Pollutants in Biological Treatment Systems examines the behaviour, removal and effects of hazardous pollutants in biological treatment. While in former years the main aim in biological treatment was the removal of bulk organic matter or nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, due to the discharge of a number of specific inorganic or organic hazardous compounds into wastewater treatment systems, this issue is becoming increasingly important.
There is also concern about the presence of hazardous pollutants in drinking water treatment, since water bodies are contaminated with them. Although in wastewater or water treatment systems hazardous pollutants are often found at a few mg/L or even lower concentrations (micropollutants:microgram/L or nanogram/L), their removal and effects are quite problematic. While implementation of physicochemical processes is more straightforward and better understood, there are still many unresolved issues regarding the removal and fate of hazardous pollutants in biological processes.
The book focuses entirely on hazardous pollutants in biological treatment systems alone and delineates the fundamental characteristics of hazardous pollutants and concentrate on their behaviour and effects in biological treatment systems. Its content ranges from description of fundamental removal mechanisms to application of biological processes as well as to experimental methods based on the process characterization approach and the examination of microbial ecology by molecular microbiology and genetic tools.
Hazardous Pollutants in Biological Treatment Systems is aimed to be an essential resource to the researcher or the practitioner who is already involved with hazardous pollutants and biological processes or intending to do so. The text will also be useful for professionals working in the field of water and wastewater treatment where hazardous pollutants have become increasingly important in biological processes.