Abstract
At the present time we are dependent on biological processes for treating many types of waste, and more expensive chemical treatments are largely confined to particularly recalcitrant or toxic industrial wastes. In microbiological terms, biological waste-treatment processes are effectively large man-made microbial culture systems designed to transform large amounts of carbonaceous material into inoffensive products (including relatively innocuous microbial biomass). Processes range from thermophilic composting of materials with relatively low water content (3.1) to the transformation of matter dissolved or suspended in relatively large volumes of water. The transformation of dilute aqueous wastes brought about by microorganisms encompasses specific treatments for certain industrial chemicals and the treatment of domestic sewage. In quantitative terms the treatment of dilute aqueous waste greatly exceeds all other waste treatment processes, and this chapter concentrates on this aspect of the biological treatment of waste.
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© 1981 W. D. Grant and P. E. Long
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Grant, W.D., Long, P.E. (1981). The Biological Treatment of Waste. In: Environmental Microbiology. Tertiary Level Biology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8537-4_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8537-4_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-216-91152-9
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