This Research Topic is the second volume of the previously launched collection
Advanced Bioremediation Technologies and Processes for the Treatment of Synthetic Organic Compounds (SOCs) which attracted over 85,000 views.
Synthetic organic compounds (SOCs) are primary pollutants of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. This group of chemicals includes pesticides, herbicides and pharmaceutical products and their transformed products; industrial chemicals (such as plasticizers, dyes and dye intermediates), organophosphate and brominated flame retardants, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (i.e. organic solvents), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, emerging pollutants like PFAS and many more. The SOCs are commonly found in urban wastewater, agricultural runoffs, and industrial liquid wastes. SOCs pollute various habitats through diffusion or as point source pollutants. SOCs exert the multidimensional effects in the polluted environment, by altering the physico-chemical properties of the habitats where they are released. The environmental distribution and persistence of many SOCs was previously unknown, but with development of newer detection methods, SOCs have been found in the environment at much higher concentrations. Due to their bio-toxic properties many SOCs are now recognized as priority pollutants, requiring immediate solutions for their removal from polluted ecosystems.
Soon after realizing their adverse effects on the biosphere, different treatment technologies and processes, including hybrid integrated systems, have been developed. Due to the exponential rise in the generation of SOCs and few of them are emerging pollutants, and concomitant heterogeneous compositions of these xenobiotics in the polluted environment, traditional treatment technologies were found to be effective with varying degrees of success. The accumulating volume and heterogeneity of the xenobiotic wastes generated are the driving force for the emergence of next generation technologies in waste treatment. In recent years, promising multi-dimensional treatment technologies have been developed such as hybrid integrated treatment systems coupling biological and physico-chemical processes, membrane bioreactors, microbial electrochemical technologies, phyto-reactors, in-situ treatment methods (e.g. bioventing, biostimultation and bioaugmentation), novel pre-treatment approaches and the innovative bioreactor/bioprocess designs for treatment of SOCs. Therefore, this Research Topic aims to provide a suitable platform for presenting newer developments of next generation technologies in the treatment of SOCs.
This Research Topic welcomes Original Articles, Reviews and Mini-reviews on following thematic areas:
• Innovative treatment technologies using novel bioreactors designs, involving phytoreactors, microbial electrochemical treatment systems and advanced hybrid bioreactors
• Technologies involving sequential treatment processes such as integrated approaches involving one or more physico-chemical and biological methods
• Treatment technologies including in situ processes developed for the removal of SOCs and emerging pollutants like PFAS, etc. from the solid or liquid wastes of polluted environmental sites
• Smart technologies involving enzyme redesigning, enzyme engineering or enzyme mediated bioremediation
• Application of nanobioremediation for removal of SOCs from polluted environment
• Research addressing the pitfalls, limitations and knowledge gaps between lab-scale and on-site applications
