Keywords Industrial wastewaters · Organic pollutants · Inorganic pollutants ·
Emerging and ecofriendly technologies · Waste treatment and management
1 Introduction
Environmental pollution is a serious problem of the current world. The pollution of
our natural environment is mainly caused by anthropogenic activities. Anthropogenic activities mainly include industrial operations. Industries are the key players in
the national economy of every nation but are also the major polluters as they
discharge a high-strength wastewater mainly characterized by high physicochemical
parameters such as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand
(COD), total dissolved solids (TDS), and a variety of organic and inorganic pollutants, which cause serious threats to public health and environment (Mendez-Paz
et al. 2005; Chandra et al. 2008, 2011; Saxena and Bharagava 2015, 2016; Saxena
et al. 2016; Gautam et al. 2017; Arora et al. 2014, 2018; Goutam et al. 2018).
Physicochemical methods are currently used for the treatment and management
of industrial wastewaters. However, these remediation methods require high cost to
be applied, are environmentally destructive, and may create secondary pollutants
that cause further pollution of the environment. To overcome these problems,
various emerging and ecofriendly approaches are applied for the removal of various
organic and inorganic pollutants from industrial wastewaters. Therefore, this chapter
provides an overview on the various emerging and ecofriendly methods applied for
the treatment and management of highly toxic and hazardous industrial wastewaters
with their merits and demerits.
2 Ecofriendly and Emerging Technologies for Removal
of Organic and Inorganic Pollutants from Industrial
Wastewaters
2.1 Microbial Bioremediation
It is an ecofriendly remediation technique that uses the inherent ability of microbes such
as algae, fungi, and bacteria to degrade/detoxify organic and inorganic pollutants from
industrial wastewaters (Kishor et al. 2018; Bharagava et al. 2019). In bioremediation
process, waste is converted into inorganic compounds such as carbon dioxide, water,
and methane and, thus, leads to mineralization and detoxification (Reshma et al. 2011).
Bioremediation chiefly depends on the metabolic capability of microbes to degrade/
detoxify or transform the pollutants, which is also affected by the accessibility of
pollutants and their bioavailability (Antizar-Ladislao 2010). It can be applied as both
in situ (remediation at the site) and ex situ (remediation elsewhere) remediation
114
G. Saxena et al.
Emerging and ecofriendly technologies · Waste treatment and management
1 Introduction
Environmental pollution is a serious problem of the current world. The pollution of
our natural environment is mainly caused by anthropogenic activities. Anthropogenic activities mainly include industrial operations. Industries are the key players in
the national economy of every nation but are also the major polluters as they
discharge a high-strength wastewater mainly characterized by high physicochemical
parameters such as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand
(COD), total dissolved solids (TDS), and a variety of organic and inorganic pollutants, which cause serious threats to public health and environment (Mendez-Paz
et al. 2005; Chandra et al. 2008, 2011; Saxena and Bharagava 2015, 2016; Saxena
et al. 2016; Gautam et al. 2017; Arora et al. 2014, 2018; Goutam et al. 2018).
Physicochemical methods are currently used for the treatment and management
of industrial wastewaters. However, these remediation methods require high cost to
be applied, are environmentally destructive, and may create secondary pollutants
that cause further pollution of the environment. To overcome these problems,
various emerging and ecofriendly approaches are applied for the removal of various
organic and inorganic pollutants from industrial wastewaters. Therefore, this chapter
provides an overview on the various emerging and ecofriendly methods applied for
the treatment and management of highly toxic and hazardous industrial wastewaters
with their merits and demerits.
2 Ecofriendly and Emerging Technologies for Removal
of Organic and Inorganic Pollutants from Industrial
Wastewaters
2.1 Microbial Bioremediation
It is an ecofriendly remediation technique that uses the inherent ability of microbes such
as algae, fungi, and bacteria to degrade/detoxify organic and inorganic pollutants from
industrial wastewaters (Kishor et al. 2018; Bharagava et al. 2019). In bioremediation
process, waste is converted into inorganic compounds such as carbon dioxide, water,
and methane and, thus, leads to mineralization and detoxification (Reshma et al. 2011).
Bioremediation chiefly depends on the metabolic capability of microbes to degrade/
detoxify or transform the pollutants, which is also affected by the accessibility of
pollutants and their bioavailability (Antizar-Ladislao 2010). It can be applied as both
in situ (remediation at the site) and ex situ (remediation elsewhere) remediation
114
G. Saxena et al.