Bioprocesses for Sustainable Management of Mine Waste in Contaminated Environmental Matrices

Abstract

Mining activities release heavy metals into the soil, which causes pollution, habitat loss, soil erosion, acid mine drainage, and serious threats to human health. Mining waste also includes waste rocks and slag, which accumulate toxins and have tailing effects. In recent years the accelerated growth in population and industrial production has made it impossible to restrict mining activities. Mining waste management needs to be redefined to become more sustainable. The use of conventional remediation methods requires use of expensive equipment and complex techniques and can led to the formation of noxious secondary pollutants. Continual efforts to develop biological treatment methods offer promising results using various alternatives like bacteria-assisted degradation, phytoremediation, phycoremediation, and modifications in the bioreactor system for the removal of pollutants from mining-contaminated sites. These methods have an innate ability to bioaccumulate the leached metals from the surroundings and build rich phytomass, which can be used for biofuel production. The zero-waste concept has been receiving a lot of attention in recent years since it helps in not only resolving the problem of mining waste accumulation but also reducing the demand for fossil fuels and their derivatives. This chapter focusses on biotechnological methods that can be applied to efficiently extract and treat mining waste from different industries in order to harness bioenergy from its by-products. © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Alok Prasad Das, Eric D. van Hullebusch, and Ata Akçil; individual chapters, the contributors.