Abstract |
The report is an overview of industrial biotechnology processes, waste streams associated with these processes, and the effectiveness of current control technologies in treating process waste streams. (Biotechnology is defined here as processes that employ microbial cultures or enzymes to produce a product or effect a specific physical or chemical change.) Commercial applications are divided into contained product manufacturing processes (industrial fermentation) and uncontained/semicontained processes (metal extraction, energy production, and pollution control). Agricultural applications of biotechnology, the use of higher order organisms, and biological treatment of wastewaters are not considered in detail in this report. Acceptable levels of control for viable microorganisms are currently not well defined. Data on the effectiveness of technologies for control of viable microorganisms and certain chemical constituents of bioprocess wastes were found to be very limited. |