This special section of the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA) encompasses peer-reviewed scientific articles from the International Conference on “Sustainable Technologies for Industrial Hazardous Waste Management and Bioenergy” (STIWMB-2019)” held at Sri Ramaswamy Memorial Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), Chennai, India, during 7–9th August, 2019. These research articles cover a wide range of scientific findings with respect to various environmental issues, industrial pollution management, and waste-to-wealth dictum of the conference. The research works published in this special issue comprise sustainable management of poultry and marine waste, valorization of waste biomass for the production of high-valued industrially important chemicals and biomolecules, and removal of emerging contaminants from the soil ecosystem.
The effluent from poultry processing industries has high concentrations of organic and inorganic loads which contributes the high chemical oxygen demand and ammoniacal nitrogen concentrations with pungent odor and discharge of this effluent without treatment pose serious environmental issues. The application of sequential bioreactor approach for the treatment of this effluent using aerobic followed by the anaerobic biological treatment processes aid in the efficient removal of organic and inorganic pollutants in low hydraulic retention time. Further, the fungal assisted bioremediation of organic contaminants in the presence of biosurfactants has reached a niche in the recent years due to the promising results and eco-friendly approach. Dumping of marine waste into the deep ocean has led to water pollution, endangering the marine ecosystem. Out of the various classes of marine wastes, the discarded shells of Carinosquilla multicarinata can be used as raw material for the preparation of chitosan nanoparticles which can be used for the designing of a drug delivery system. Apart from marine waste, the waste biomass generated after industrial or household application is solely incinerated and, with substantial bioprocessing, can provide an essential platform for the sustainable development of the bio-based refinery. The biocatalytic upgradation of waste plant biomass can provide an industrially feasible process for the production of high-value products like 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, vanillin and fermentable sugars. The research articles of this special issue will aid in understanding various aspects of environmental management through strategical sustainable approaches. This conference was primarily funded and supported by SRMIST, Chennai, Department of Science and Technology–Science and Engineering Research Board (SSY/2019/000462), and Department of Biotechnology (DBT/CTEP/01/20190649700), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. The conference organizers hope that this special section will provide the readers and industries with useful scientific and technological insights and that can be applied in the field applications.