Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi.
The process of biodegradation can be divided into three stages: biodeterioration, biofragmentation, and assimilation. Biodeterioration is sometimes described as a surface-level degradation that modifies the mechanical, physical and chemical properties of the material. This stage occurs when the material is exposed to abiotic factors in the outdoor environment and allows for further degradation by weakening the material's structure. Some abiotic factors that influence these initial changes are compression (mechanical), light, temperature and chemicals in the environment. While biodeterioration typically occurs as the first stage of biodegradation, it can in some cases be parallel to biofragmentation. Hueck, however, defined Biodeterioration as the undesirable action of living organisms on Man's materials, involving such things as breakdown of stone facades of buildings, corrosion of metals by microorganisms or merely the esthetic changes induced on man-made structures by the growth of living organisms.
Components of the Book:
- Chapter 1
Biodegradation of bioplastics under aerobic and anaerobic aqueous conditions Kinetics, carbon fate and particle size effect
- Chapter 2
Biodegradation and metabolic pathway of phenanthrene by a newly isolated bacterium Gordonia sp. SCSIO19801
- Chapter 3
Analysis of the mechanism for enhanced pyrene biodegradation based on the interactions between iron-ions and Rhodococcus ruber strain L9
- Chapter 4
Tire pyrolysis wastewater treatment by a combined process of coagulation detoxification and biodegradation
- Chapter 5
Experimental study on the biodegradation of naphthalene and phenanthrene by functional bacterial strains in the riparian soil of a binary system
- Chapter 6
Biodegradation of azo dyes by bacterial or fungal consortium and identification of the biodegradation products
- Chapter 7
Prolonged lifetime of biological activated carbon filters through enhanced biodegradation of melamine
- Chapter 8
Biodegradation and photo-Fenton degradation of bisphenol A, bisphenol S and fluconazole in water
- Chapter 9
Biostimulation is a valuable tool to assess pesticide biodegradation capacity of groundwater microorganisms
- Chapter 10
Fungal biodegradation of low-density polyethylene using consortium of Aspergillus species under controlled conditions
- Chpater 11
Biological activated carbon filter for greywater post-treatment Long-term TOC removal with adsorption and biodegradation
- Chapter 12
Recent studies on enzyme-catalysed recycling and biodegradation of synthetic polymers
Readership:
Students, academics, teachers and other people attending or interested in Biodegradation
Octavio García-Depraect
Institute of Sustainable Processes, University of Valladolid, Dr. Mergelina, s/n, 47011, Valladolid, Spain
Rosa Aragao Borner
Nestl′e Research, Soci′et′e des Produits Nestl′e S.A, Route du Jorat 57, 1000 Lausanne, Switzerland
Robert Frankowski
Institute of Chemistry and Technical Electrochemistry, Poznan University of Technology, Berdychowo 4, 60-965, Pozna′n, Poland
Andrea Aldas-Vargas
Environmental Technology, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 17, 6700, EV, Wageningen, the Netherlands
Aniruddh Shrikrishna
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
and more...