Bioremediation

Have you ever thought about what happens to all of the toxic wastes humans generate? Where do these toxins go in the environment once they have been dumped somewhere? In many cases, these wastes accumulate in specific places within natural environments, including plants, animals, soils, and in water. If left in the environment, it is possible that some of those toxins might make their way into food or water used by humans. However, through studies of specific wastes that were generated, in some cases centuries ago, we have discovered that many toxins can be degraded by natural means if given adequate conditions and time. Through detailed studies of these cases of natural degradation of toxins, the scientific field now called Bioremediation was initiated. Today, through studies of both natural biodegradation of toxins, and lab-based studies of new mechanisms using microorganisms or plants, Bioremediation processes have become major tools used to clean up toxic wastes in many different environments. This book seeks to describe the field of Bioremediation from its earliest applications up to the use of the most modern tools that are used to clean up many different types of toxic wastes. All of these developments are based on studies of natural processes to clean wastes. All we needed was a little help from nature to figure this out.