Biotechnology for Zero Waste – Emerging Waste Management Techniques (Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain (editor) etc.)

397

Novel Biotechnological Approaches for Removal of

Emerging Contaminants

Sangeetha Gandhi Sivasubramaniyan¹, Senthilkumar Kandasamy², and

Naveen kumar Manickam²

1JCT College of Engineering and Technology, Department of Food Technology, Pichannur, Coimbatore, Tamil

Nadu, 641105, India

2Kongu Engineering College, Department of Chemical Engineering, Erode, Tamil Nadu 638060, India

26.1

Introduction

In general, contaminants are the waste substances deposited into the water source

or onto land which affects the soil, environment, and water sources. Contaminants

are of various forms such as liquid, solid, and gases. All the three forms of contam-

inants should be monitored and treated periodically. It is the prime duty of all the

industries to treat the waste appropriately before channeling into the environment.

Emerging contaminants (ECs) are the substances those cause no pollution when

deposited in minor quantities. The increased use of various products and disposal

of the same into the environment causes serious hazards. It is the prime duty of

biotechnologists to educate the society about the ECs and need of treatment for those

contaminants. ECs are unregulated and they are not included in the regular moni-

toring system for waste deposition and treatment. They include wide range of sub-

stances like personal care products (PCPs), pesticides, pharmaceuticals, plasticizers,

nourishment-added substances, wood additives, clothing cleansers, surfactants, dis-

infectants, fire retardants, etc. The ECs need to be monitored, analyzed, and treated

to protect the environment. Water is the major place for the deposition of the ECs.

Treatment of EC is one of the major step to protect the environment and water

sources in order to save the lives from the hazards. Various methods include chem-

ical, physicochemical, and biological for treatment of ECs. When compared to all,

biological approach is more efficient and harmless to environment.

26.2

Classiﬁcation of Emerging Contaminants

ECs might be appearing in the environment from long ago, but appeared as

pollutants recently. They cause not only pollution in the environment but also affect

Biotechnology for Zero Waste: Emerging Waste Management Techniques, First Edition.

Edited by Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain and Ravi Kumar Kadeppagari.