Emerging green technologies for biological treatment of leather tannery chemicals and wastewater

Abstract Tannery wastewater is mainly characterized by high biochemical oxygen demand, total dissolved solids, chromium, phenolics, and a variety of toxic organic and inorganic toxic chemicals, and hence its adequate treatment is necessary to protect the environment and public health. Currently applied physicochemical techniques to treat and detoxify tannery wastewater are highly costly and environmentally destructive and also create secondary pollution, and hence are uneconomical and environmentally not feasible to apply. However, emerging green technologies are increasingly popular due to their cost-effective and eco-friendly nature, and hence could be applied for the effective remediation of hazardous tannery wastewater. Therefore this chapter is mainly focused on the various emerging green technologies that can be used for the effective treatment and management of hazardous TWW to protect our natural environment.