Introduction to Biotechnology - Environmental Biotechnology: Theory and Application - page 9

this fertile ground which is explored in the present work. In addition, the princi-
pal underlying approach of specifically environmental biotechnology, as distinct
from other kinds, is the reliance on existing natural cycles, often directly and in an
entirely unmodified form. Thus, this science stands on a foundation of fundamen-
tal biology and biochemistry. To understand the application, the biotechnologist
must simply examine the essential elements of life, living systems and ecological
circulation sequences. However engineered the approach, this fact remains true.
In many respects, environmental biotechnology stands as the purest example of
the newly emergent bioindustry, since it is the least refined, at least in terms of
the basis of its action. In essence, all of its applications simply encourage the
natural propensity of the organisms involved, while seeking to enhance or accel-
erate their action. Hence, optimisation, rather than modification, is the typical
route by which the particular desired end result, whatever it may be, is achieved
and, consequently, a number of issues feature as common threads within the
discussions of individual technologies.
Integrated Approach
Integration is an important aspect for environmental biotechnology. One theme
that will be developed throughout this topic is the potential for different bio-
logical approaches to be combined within treatment trains, thereby producing
an overall effect which would be impossible for any single technology alone
to achieve. However, the wider goal of integration is not, of necessity, confined
solely to the specific methods used. It applies equally to the underpinning knowl-
edge that enables them to function in the first place and an understanding of this
is central to the rationale behind this topic. In some spheres, traditional biology
has become rather unfashionable and the emphasis has shifted to more exciting
sounding aspects of life science. While the new-found concentration on 'ecolog-
ical processes', or whatever, sounds distinctly more 'environmental', in many
ways, and somewhat paradoxically, it sometimes serves the needs of environ-
mental biotechnology rather less well. The fundamentals of living systems are
the stuff of this branch of science and, complex though the whole picture may be,
at its simplest the environmental biotechnologist is principally concerned with a
relatively small number of basic cycles. In this respect, a good working knowl-
edge of biological processes like respiration, fermentation and photosynthesis,
a grasp of the major cycles by which carbon, nitrogen and water are recycled
and an appreciation of the flow of energy through the biosphere must be viewed
as prerequisites. Unsurprisingly, then, these basic processes appear throughout
this topic, either explicitly or tacitly accepted as underpinning the context of the
discussion. The intent here has been neither to insult the readership by parading
what is already well known, nor gloss over aspects which, if left unexplained, at
least in reasonable detail, might only serve to confuse. However, this is expressly
not designed to be a substitute for much more specific texts on these subjects, nor