Springer Valorisation of Agro-industrial Residues – Volume I: Biological Approaches (Applied Environmental Science and Engineering for a Sustainable Future)

Agriculture and industry are the two most important economic sectors for various countries around the globe, providing millions of jobs as well as being the main source of income for these countries. Nevertheless, with the increasing demand for agricultural and industrial produce, huge amounts of waste are also being produced. Without proper management, this waste (both liquid and solid) poses a serious threat to overall environmental quality, mainly due to its toxicity and slow degradation processes. Current approaches are effective but would normally require huge capital investments, are labour intensive and generate potential hazardous by-products. As such, there is a need for alternative approaches that are cheaper, easier-to-handle and have a minimum potential impact on environmental quality.   This book presents up-to-date approaches using biological techniques to manage the abundance of waste generated from agricultural and industrial activities. It discusses techniques such as bioconversion, biodegradation, biotransformation, and biomonitoring as well as the utilization of these wastes. A number of chapters also include individual case studies to enhance readers’ understanding of the topics. This comprehensive book is a useful resource for anyone involved in agricultural and industrial waste management, green chemistry or biotechnology. It is also recommended as a reference work for graduate students and all agriculture and biotechnology libraries. From the Back Cover Agriculture and industry are the two most important economic sectors for various countries around the globe, providing millions of jobs as well as being the main source of income for these countries. Nevertheless, with the increasing demand for agricultural and industrial produce, huge amounts of waste are also being produced. Without proper management, this waste (both liquid and solid) poses a serious threat to overall environmental quality, mainly due to its toxicity and slow degradation processes. Current approaches are effective but would normally require huge capital investments, are labour intensive and generate potential hazardous by-products. As such, there is a need for alternative approaches that are cheaper, easier-to-handle and have a minimum potential impact on environmental quality.   This book presents up-to-date approaches using biological techniques to manage the abundance of waste generated from agricultural and industrial activities. It discusses techniques such as bioconversion, biodegradation, biotransformation, and biomonitoring as well as the utilization of these wastes. A number of chapters also include individual case studies to enhance readers’ understanding of the topics. This comprehensive book is a useful resource for anyone involved in agricultural and industrial waste management, green chemistry or biotechnology. It is also recommended as a reference work for graduate students and all agriculture and biotechnology libraries. About the Author Dr. Zainul Akmar Zakaria is an Associate Professor under the School of Chemical Engineering and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). He currently holds the position of Associate Chair at the School as well as heading the UTMBactec Research group where he works on biomass valorization and microbial technology. He has Scopus h-index of 15 and has published 2 Research Books, 5 Edited Books and 10 Book Chapters. One of his research books was awarded the “National Book Award 2018” under the biochemistry category.  Dr. Zainul has acted as Guest Editor for Special Issues in 3 ISI-indexed journals, Evaluator for International Research Grant (Saudi Arabia, American Chemical Society, South Africa), Visiting Scientist to Argentina and Mexico as well as Program Head for the UTM-CONICET, Argentina R&D Program (2015-2017). Dr. Raj Boopathy is an Alcee Fortier Distinguished Service Professor of Biologi