Applications of Fungi in Waste Water Treatment: Fungal Cells in Treatment of Mining Wastewater
摘要
The wastewater from the mining industry containing heavy metals and other hazardous pollutants poses many challenges, requiring careful planning and various technologies. Current low-cost technologies applied for mining wastewater treatment can be based on processes including biosorption, adsorption, constructed wetlands, and waste stabilization ponds. Recently, a new biological approach of remediation has emerged in the treatment of mining wastewater, that is mycoremediation. Fungal cells (live or dead) are applied in the mycoremediation and their properties of fast, easy, and environmentally benign provide a low-cost technology. Various shapes and forms of fungi including single or filamentous cells, pellets, or powder have been used for metals removal in aqueous environments and mining wastewater. Due to their exceptional adaptability, fungi may thrive in a wide range of challenging environments, including dark, space-restricted conditions, and extreme environments characterized by variations in pH, high salinity, acidity, and even radioactivity. Furthermore, fungi exhibit diverse ecological niches, inhabiting various substrates such as soil, wood, rock, and living organisms, as well as occupying aqueous and gaseous environments. This inherent versatility endows fungi with promising properties and mechanisms for application in wastewater treatment. In this book chapter, the overview of mining wastewater treatment by mycoremediation was performed on potential fungal cells.