Chapter 21
Progresses in Bioremediation Technologies
for Industrial Waste Treatment
and Management: Challenges and Future
Prospects
Ram Naresh Bharagava and Gaurav Saxena
Abstract Industrial wastewater treatment and management is a major challenge of
the twenty-first century and essential to safeguard the environment and public health.
Industrial wastewaters are considered as one of the major sources of environmental
contamination because these carry a variety of environmental contaminants that may
cause serious health hazards in living beings. To protect the environment and public
health from the adverse effects of such industrial pollutants, several methods are
currently being applied to manage such industrial wastes. These methods include
physicochemical techniques, which are not eco-friendly in nature as these use
chemicals for environmental cleanup and thus cause secondary pollution and are
costly. However, bioremediation technologies are one of the self-driven eco-friendly
methods as these rely on the activity of microbes and plants that remove an array of
pollutants from polluted wastewaters. This chapter reviews the progresses made in
the bioremediation technologies for industrial waste treatment and management with
reference to tannery wastewater and focuses on challenges and future directions in
the field.
Keywords Industrial wastewater · Treatment · Management · Progresses ·
Challenges · Prospects
1 Introduction
Industries are responsible for the economic growth of the developing countries as
these generate revenue and provide employment opportunities to locals and thus
positively affect the well-being of humankind. However, these are also the major
R. N. Bharagava (*) · G. Saxena
Laboratory for Bioremediation and Metagenomics Research (LBMR), Department of
Microbiology (DM), Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (Central) University, Lucknow,
Uttar Pradesh, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
R. N. Bharagava, G. Saxena (eds.), Bioremediation of Industrial Waste for
Environmental Safety, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3426-9_21
531
Progresses in Bioremediation Technologies
for Industrial Waste Treatment
and Management: Challenges and Future
Prospects
Ram Naresh Bharagava and Gaurav Saxena
Abstract Industrial wastewater treatment and management is a major challenge of
the twenty-first century and essential to safeguard the environment and public health.
Industrial wastewaters are considered as one of the major sources of environmental
contamination because these carry a variety of environmental contaminants that may
cause serious health hazards in living beings. To protect the environment and public
health from the adverse effects of such industrial pollutants, several methods are
currently being applied to manage such industrial wastes. These methods include
physicochemical techniques, which are not eco-friendly in nature as these use
chemicals for environmental cleanup and thus cause secondary pollution and are
costly. However, bioremediation technologies are one of the self-driven eco-friendly
methods as these rely on the activity of microbes and plants that remove an array of
pollutants from polluted wastewaters. This chapter reviews the progresses made in
the bioremediation technologies for industrial waste treatment and management with
reference to tannery wastewater and focuses on challenges and future directions in
the field.
Keywords Industrial wastewater · Treatment · Management · Progresses ·
Challenges · Prospects
1 Introduction
Industries are responsible for the economic growth of the developing countries as
these generate revenue and provide employment opportunities to locals and thus
positively affect the well-being of humankind. However, these are also the major
R. N. Bharagava (*) · G. Saxena
Laboratory for Bioremediation and Metagenomics Research (LBMR), Department of
Microbiology (DM), Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (Central) University, Lucknow,
Uttar Pradesh, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
R. N. Bharagava, G. Saxena (eds.), Bioremediation of Industrial Waste for
Environmental Safety, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3426-9_21
531