Biophotodegradation of pollutants from wastewater

Abstract The appropriate treatment of wastewater containing recalcitrant compounds is a topic of increasing concern worldwide due to the harmful effect of such compounds (e.g., synthetic dyes, phenolics, emerging pollutants) on the ecosystem and human health. However, the current existing technologies are noneconomic and/or nonefficient to remove this kind of recalcitrant pollutants. Hence, new approaches for an effective, economic, and environmental-friendly wastewater treatment are required. Since individual treatments are often limited, combined treatments are being considered in the last years. In this context, the use of a hybrid catalyst consisting of a biocatalyst (i.e., microorganism or enzyme) and a photochemical catalyst (e.g., TiO2, ZnO) seems a promising approach. Thus, in this chapter the attempts performed in this sense are reviewed and discussed.