Abstract
Nature has an enormous potential to cycle materials and energy. This potential, and specifically that of biological processes can be applied in the chemical industry to recycle or treat waste, wastewater, and off-gas, and thus reintegrate the man-made, synthetic chemicals into the natural cycles.
This contribution describes some powerful and innovative biotechnical processes investigated in and partly applied at Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc., Switzerland for the breakdown of C-, Cl-, N-, S-, and P-containing molecules for water, air and soil treatment. Among these are laboratory investigations on the degradation of atrazine or chlorophenols in soils, the large-scale application of microorganisms capable of mineralising aromatic or chlorinated aliphatic compounds in fixed-film bioreactors for groundwater treatment, the anaerobic treatment of chemical effluents, or the removal of solvents from off-gas using biological trickling filters.
Although the biotechnological potential available is vast, its applicability in the environmental field is slow. Possible reasons and potential barriers to overcome are discussed from a perspective of the chemical industry. Chances for optimal solutions including biological processes increase if the approach to solve environmental challenges is holistic, if the wastewater or off-gas is well characterised, if cheap and reliable biodegradation tests are used coupled with professional interpretation of the test results, and if interdisciplinary know-how transfer occurs.
The biotechnological potential is ecoefficient and thus will become increasingly applied in future
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Stucki, G., Steinle, P. (2002). Application of the Biotechnological Potential for Environmental Challenges in the Chemical Industry. In: Agathos, S.N., Reineke, W. (eds) Biotechnology for the Environment: Strategy and Fundamentals. Focus on Biotechnology, vol 3A. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0357-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0357-5_1
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