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Biotechnology for degradation of toxic chemicals in hazardous wastes
Book reviews therefore, contains a considerable amount of useful information covering a range of wastewaters and all three of the modern high-rate processes (filters, fluidized beds, and sludge blanket reactors). It contains details relating to costs, start-up, and the problems experienced when operating both a pilot and a full-scale plant. However, the book is based on a 1986 symposium, and there is the temptation to wonder how far the technology has advanced since the data were obtained. Nevertheless, at a price of $36, it is probably worth buying.
C.F. Forster, PhD
University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK
Biotechnology for Degradation of Toxic Chemicals in Hazardous Wastes R.J. Scholze, Jr., et al., Editors Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, NJ, USA, 1988, $59.00, 697 + xxi This substantial volume of 697 pages is described as being based on a conference held in Arlington, Virginia, in June of 1986, to assess the applicability of using biotechnology for the treatment of hazardous/toxic wastewaters. As such, it is clearly intended to cover a wide spectrum of toxic materials and wastes, make comparisons of toxicity testing techniques, and evaluate a range of treatment processes. True, as one dips into the volume, a wide range
of processes appears to be docum e n t e d - a e r o b i c processes like activated sludge, and rotating biological contactors and anaerobic processes of one sort or another, ranging from fixed films and packed beds to the contact system; even land treatment (for nitrosoguanidine treatment) (would they let it happen in the UK?) gets a mention. However, it soon becomes evident that this is in effect merely a collection of symposium papers and not the comprehensive comparison that the title would have us believe. Moreover, while the book contains a lot of words, they are perhaps of less substance than one might at first have expected. There are, indeed, 38 contributions in all but some of them, like the first (Keynote Address--Biological Treatment of Toxics in Wastewater: The Problems and Opportunities) are very general reviews referring to material already largely published. In contrast, other contributions are narrow and very specific. Among the papers are many where interesting points are raised and fascinating techniques and results are discussed. An account of high rate processes for treatment of phenolic wastes contains theory on inhibition kinetics and shows how appropriate selection pressure may be applied to obtain a more efficient and more phenoltolerant microbial population. Together, these papers comprise a staccato presentation, a volume that consists of a series of undigestable jabs of written conference contributions. It is not just that they are a hodgepodge of
information by diverse authors in diverse styles, but they are unenhanced by the spoken presentation, the asides, and the additional slides. They have been prepared as camera-ready copy and sometimes pretty poor at that. The print styles vary from best laser to doubtful typewriter (for example, figure 7, the phenol medium listed on page 302, is surely reproduced from a wellworn photocopy) and the figures are astonishingly variable. In the paper on Explosives Industry Wastewater, the figures are smudgy computer outputs, sometimes stenciled in a great variability of styles, sometimes reproductions of original drawings for slides, and in one place (p. 166) hand drawn. S u r e l y , this is a poor man's conference and poorly reproduced. The price of the volume is not quoted in pounds sterling (although it is U.S. $59.00). If it comes cheap, well you are getting what you paid for; if not, then it is a pretty bad buy. Perhaps the tone of the whole book is summed up by the last sentence: " I hope this rather informal accounting of some of our consortium-related activities has been of interest and some help to the conference participants." lndeed, so do we.
Christopher F. Forster D.A. John Wase
School of Civil Engineering and School of Chemical Engineering University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK
Enzyme Microb. Technol., 1990, vol. 12, March
237
C.F. Forster, PhD
University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK
Biotechnology for Degradation of Toxic Chemicals in Hazardous Wastes R.J. Scholze, Jr., et al., Editors Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, NJ, USA, 1988, $59.00, 697 + xxi This substantial volume of 697 pages is described as being based on a conference held in Arlington, Virginia, in June of 1986, to assess the applicability of using biotechnology for the treatment of hazardous/toxic wastewaters. As such, it is clearly intended to cover a wide spectrum of toxic materials and wastes, make comparisons of toxicity testing techniques, and evaluate a range of treatment processes. True, as one dips into the volume, a wide range
of processes appears to be docum e n t e d - a e r o b i c processes like activated sludge, and rotating biological contactors and anaerobic processes of one sort or another, ranging from fixed films and packed beds to the contact system; even land treatment (for nitrosoguanidine treatment) (would they let it happen in the UK?) gets a mention. However, it soon becomes evident that this is in effect merely a collection of symposium papers and not the comprehensive comparison that the title would have us believe. Moreover, while the book contains a lot of words, they are perhaps of less substance than one might at first have expected. There are, indeed, 38 contributions in all but some of them, like the first (Keynote Address--Biological Treatment of Toxics in Wastewater: The Problems and Opportunities) are very general reviews referring to material already largely published. In contrast, other contributions are narrow and very specific. Among the papers are many where interesting points are raised and fascinating techniques and results are discussed. An account of high rate processes for treatment of phenolic wastes contains theory on inhibition kinetics and shows how appropriate selection pressure may be applied to obtain a more efficient and more phenoltolerant microbial population. Together, these papers comprise a staccato presentation, a volume that consists of a series of undigestable jabs of written conference contributions. It is not just that they are a hodgepodge of
information by diverse authors in diverse styles, but they are unenhanced by the spoken presentation, the asides, and the additional slides. They have been prepared as camera-ready copy and sometimes pretty poor at that. The print styles vary from best laser to doubtful typewriter (for example, figure 7, the phenol medium listed on page 302, is surely reproduced from a wellworn photocopy) and the figures are astonishingly variable. In the paper on Explosives Industry Wastewater, the figures are smudgy computer outputs, sometimes stenciled in a great variability of styles, sometimes reproductions of original drawings for slides, and in one place (p. 166) hand drawn. S u r e l y , this is a poor man's conference and poorly reproduced. The price of the volume is not quoted in pounds sterling (although it is U.S. $59.00). If it comes cheap, well you are getting what you paid for; if not, then it is a pretty bad buy. Perhaps the tone of the whole book is summed up by the last sentence: " I hope this rather informal accounting of some of our consortium-related activities has been of interest and some help to the conference participants." lndeed, so do we.
Christopher F. Forster D.A. John Wase
School of Civil Engineering and School of Chemical Engineering University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK
Enzyme Microb. Technol., 1990, vol. 12, March
237