This book covers the broader application of environmental biotechnology for protecting the environment through different bioremediation and biodegradation techniques framed toward removing environmental contaminants, including emerging contaminants. The extensive range of environmental pollutants, which may be organic or inorganic, including toxic heavy metals, radionuclides, synthetic organic dyes, organic compounds, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products, etc., continue to pose a threat to human health and ecosystem functioning. The book covers a comprehensive overview of environmental pollutants, including their fate, behavior, and environmental and health risks associated with them. It describes the utilization of bioremediation and phytoremediation processes to provide a superior alternative removal and detoxification of such toxic environmental pollutants directed toward managing ecosystems. It includes an overview of gene modification and omics technology for environment management for the aesthetic approaches to environmental clean-up. Moreover, the book discusses resource recovery from waste using such technologies, which increases the feasibility of the process. Additionally, the book is designed to provide awareness among its readers about major environmental issues like pollution and its management and control through biotechnological means to promote the sustainable development of our society with minimal environmental impact. It also provides technical content regarding the mechanism of bioremediation, biodegradation, and phytoremediation and their field applicability, along with an overview of emerging pollutants and gene modification techniques for remediation applications.

Autorentext

Prof. Pradeep Verma

Professor Verma obtained his Ph.D. from Sardar Patel University, Gujarat, India, in 2002. In the same year, he was selected as a UNESCO fellow and joined the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, Czech Republic. Later, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Charles University, Prague. In 2004, he joined UFZ Centre for Environmental Research in Halle, Germany, as a visiting scientist. He was awarded a DFG fellowship, which gave him another opportunity to work as a postdoctoral fellow at Gottingen University, Germany. In 2007, he moved back to India and joined Reliance Life Sciences in Mumbai, where he worked extensively on biobutanol production, resulting in several patents. He was later awarded the JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme and joined the Laboratory of Biomass Conversion at the Research Institute of Sustainable Humanosphere (RISH), Kyoto University, Japan.

Prof. Verma has received several prestigious awards such as the Ron-Cockcroft Award from the Swedish Society and the UNESCO Fellow ASCR Prague. Prof. Verma embarked on his academic career as a Reader and Founder Head of the Department of Microbiology at Assam University in 2009. In 2011, he shifted to the Department of Biotechnology at Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya (A Central University), Bilaspur as an Associate Professor and served there till 2013. Currently, he is a Professor was formerly served as the Head and Dean of the School of Life Sciences at the Department of Microbiology, CURAJ. He is a member of various National and International societies and academies. Prof. Verma has completed two collaborative projects valued at 150 million INR in the field of microbial diversity and bioenergy. Prof. Verma is a Group Leader at the Bioprocess and Bioenergy Laboratory, Department of Microbiology at the School of Life Sciences in CURAJ.

He is a distinguished Fellow of several professional organizations, including the Mycological Society of India (MSI-Fellow-2020), the Biotechnological Research Society of India (BRSI-Fellow, 2021), and the Association of Microbiological Sciences, India (AMSc-AMI-India, Fellow-2021). In addition, he received the Bridge Fellow JSPS award in 2022 and conducted joint research work at Kyoto University in Japan. Prof. Verma's expertise is in Microbial Diversity, Bioremediation, Bioprocess Development, Lignocellulosic, and Algal Biomass-based Biorefinery. He has several international patents in the field of microwave-assisted biomass pretreatment and bio-butanol production. Additionally, he has published more than 94 research and review articles in peer-reviewed international journals, with 6866 Citations, and cumulative impact factors of over 256.6. He has an h-index of 44 and, an i-index of 106. He has also contributed to 61 published book chapters in different edited books by publishers such as RSC, CRC, Springer, Elsevier, De-Gruyter, and IWA. Furthermore, he has also published 20 edited books in international publishers such as Springer, Elsevier, CRC, IWA, and De-Gruyter. He has also acted as a guest editor for several journals such as Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (Springer), Frontier in Nanotechnology (Frontiers), and International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (MDPI). He is also an editorial board member for the Journal of Current Nanomedicine (Bentham Sciences). Lastly, he is a reviewer for more than 70 journals in different publication houses such as Springer, Elsevier, RSC, ACS, Nature, Frontiers, and MDPI.