In recent years, the demand for the use of sustainable and eco-friendly environmental processes is rapidly growing, subjected to economic, public, and legislation pressure. Biotechnology provides a plethora of opportunities for effectively addressing issues pertaining to the monitoring, assessment, and treatment of contaminated water, air, and solid waste streams. In this context, source tracking of environmental pollutants and its treatment using biological-based methods is becoming increasingly important, mainly, owing to the accuracy and robustness of such techniques. The different biotechniques available nowadays, thus, represent both well-established as well as novel (bio)technologies, although several aspects of their performance are still to be tested, for instance, the use of novel biocatalysts and reactor designs, the understanding of microbial community dynamics and mechanisms occurring within a (bio)reactor, and the assessment of the performance of (bio)reactors during long-term operation. If these mechanisms are understood and the barriers are overcome, novel biotechniques will potentially change the way users rebuild technologies for the sustainable use of different biological processes for wastewater, air, and solid waste treatment.

This special issue mainly focuses on the various aspects of biotechnology application in the field of environmental biotechnology. It, thus, aims to provide its readers with an authoritative, comprehensive, up-to-date research on the application of biotechnology for environmental monitoring and pollution abatement. Prospective authors are invited to contribute original research articles as well as critical reviews for this forthcoming special issue. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

Biomarkers for environmental pollution monitoring
Electrochemical biosensors and the development of new biosensors for environmental monitoring
Novel analytical techniques and test methods for environmental (air, water, and solid waste) quality monitoring
Biodegradation of pollutants, including organic and inorganic, N, P, K, and S compounds
Microbiological aspects of waste treatment: physiology and metabolism, new microbial species (bacteria, fungi, yeast, and algae), enumerating microbial populations in bioreactors, and application of novel microbiology-based approaches
Biotechniques to treat emerging pollutants from water, air, and leachate, including endocrine disruptors
Development of new biocatalysts and innovative bioreactors for pollution control and biotransformations: membrane bioreactors, microbial fuel cells, and alternative bioreactor configurations, among others
Phytoremediation and improved wetland configurations for pollution control
Integration of nonbiological processes with bioprocesses
Biotransformation of contaminants to biofuels and other valuable products, for example, combustible biomass, syngas fermentation, and biofuels production from waste resources
Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal’s Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/bmri/biotechnology/bem/ according to the following timetable:

Manuscript Due Friday, 11 October 2013
First Round of Reviews Friday, 3 January 2014
Publication Date Friday, 28 February 2014


Lead Guest Editor
Kannan Pakshirajan, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India

Guest Editors
Eldon R. Rene, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, The Netherlands
Aiyagari Ramesh, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India