Environmental Biotechnology ESEB 2004

This book presents recent developments in the field of environmental biotechnology. Three major forces are currently driving this discipline. First, there is the exploration of microbial diversity by genomic tools. The implementation of molecular biology to analyse and characterise microbial communities is of central importance in numerous processes related to drinking water production, wastewater treatment, composting, biological air cleaning, anaerobic digestion and soil remediation. The second driving force is the ongoing progress in the modelling of various transient phenomena in the environmental processes, which make insight more coherent and facilitate overall operation. Finally, environmental biotechniology has also a major duty to integrate its potentials in the framework of economic development and risk management. The latter is vital to integrate environmental biotech into the current strive for sustainability. This book provides a state-of-the-art-overview of developments in the field of environmental biotechnology concerning exploration, implementation, modelling, economic development and safety. It comprises selected, peer-reviewed papers that were presented at the European Symposium on Environmental Biotechnology (ESEB) 2004, held in Oostende, Belgium, April 2004. This book is intended for scientists and engineers who are active in the area of environment, biotechnology, microbiology and molecular engineering.