Microbial metabolism and its potential in wastewater treatment

The water pollution has become a serious environmental problem due to industrialization. The wastewater that comes out from municipalities and various industries, such as leather, mining, textile, dyeing, pharmaceuticals, electroplating, tannery, and jewelry, contains organic pollutants. Therefore microbial wastewater treatment is an advanced technique for the treatment of organic pollutants using microorganisms, such as fungi and bacteria, instead of chemicals. In this treatment process, aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms can be used for wastewater treatment and for reduction of the biochemical oxygen demand of water. The growth of microorganisms depends on several factors such as pH, temperature, and oxygen requirements. The treatment process is designed for degrading pollutants that are present in effluents by the action of microorganisms. The metabolism of these microorganisms is controlled by several environmental factors. Therefore this chapter discusses the microbial wastewater treatment process, microbial metabolism, advancement in microbial treatment technology, and bioreactor design for wastewater treatment.