Chapter 1 - Emerging contaminants in environment: occurrence, toxicity, and management strategies with emphasis on microbial remediation and advanced oxidation processes

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The great challenge for the biochemical industry as well as those based on biochemistry is to find viable alternatives to decrease and/or mitigate wastewater contamination by complex aqueous pollutants. These emerging contaminants (ECs) may cause negative effects on human health and the environment, combined with insecurity due to their high toxicity potential. In addition, conventional physical–chemical methods are not able to degrade these contaminants, so an alternative treatment method is needed. Microbial remediation is a promising method in the removal of EC, since it presents low process cost and is ecologically sustainable. Although this method of treatment is fruitful in the degradation of substances present in ECs, it is essential to monitor and evaluate bioremediation processes, since microbial activity may fail due to stress caused by drastic changes in environmental conditions. Similarly, the use of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) is also considered an excellent technology in the degradation of organic products, especially those that resist biological treatment, in which they are oxidized via radical hydroxyls (OH⋅). In general, the production, storage, transport, and disposal of these EC should be regulated by government agencies, as well as the use of bioassays with test organisms to detect the toxic levels of these persistent compounds. In this scenario the objective of the chapter is an overview of the various types of EC, with emphasis on biological and oxidative processes, as well as the development of efficient strategies in the remediation of these contaminants, and their respective effects of toxicity for environmental monitoring approaches.