About this Research Topic

Background

Biotechnology involves the use of microbial communities to provide services to society. One such service provides green alternatives to the treatment of wastewater and water resources by harnessing micro-organisms for the detoxification of contaminated water and soil such as priority list contaminants. Oxidized water contaminants can be reduced (e.g., perchlorates, heavy metals, nitrates, and chlorinated solvents) and the production of methane, hydrogen, and electricity can be achieved. Microbial communities need to be managed to ensure that they provide the desired service of waste reduction. Waste management goals can be achieved through partnering the microorganisms with modern materials and physical and chemical processes.

Overall, the scope of this Research Topic is to welcome submissions that advance the recent biotechnological applications in the fields for "green" wastewater treatment through bioremediation, phytoremediation, biomineralization, and other biotechnological methods.

Suggested topics include:

- Applications of micro-organisms (bacterial, fungal, algal and plants or integrated approaches) in the removal of heavy metals, pesticides, perchlorate, emerging contaminants and other priority list contaminants
- Molecular approaches such as metagenomics and metaproteomics to understand interactions during waste treatment
- Toxicity studies that examine the environmental or human health impacts of the treated and untreated and treated waste waters.
- Microbial processes for conversion of treated wastes to beneficial uses, including production of bioenergy or fertilizer.

Photo Credit: Lynn Small

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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