This book is designed to present the basic principles of biodegradation and to show how those principles relate to bioremediation. It considers some of the microbiological, chemical, environmental, engineering, and technological aspects of biodegradation and biremediation, but it does not cover all facets. The field is too large and diverse, and its knowledge base is expanding too rapidly to be covered in a single text. Nevertheless, there are key general principles that underlie the science and the technology, and these can be, and hopefully here are, presented within a single volume. An adequate introduction to biodegradation and bioremediation requires knowledge not just of one or two disciplines; information from many disciplines is needed. The processes are microbiological, the bahivor of the compounds follows chemical principles, changes in hazard and exposure represent topics of concern in environmental toxicology, the areas containing the pollutants respresent environments with unique properties, and the technologies are based on approaches common in environmental engineering. Thus, the book is addressed to - and should be of value to - microbiologists, chemists, toxicologists, environmental scientists, and environmental engineers. Individual readers may be unhappy with the lack of more extensive coverage of one or another topic, particularly those that are included within their own disciplines, but it is hoped that the references appended to each chapter will provide an adequate guide to further information.
