Phytotechnology with Biomass Production Sustainable Management of Contaminated Sites. By Larry E.Erickson, ValentinaPidlisnyuk (Eds.), Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. 2021. pp. 242. U.S. List Price: $140.00. ISBN: 978‐0‐367‐52280‐3 (hardback); ISBN: 978‐1‐003‐08261‐3 (ebook); ISBN: 978‐0‐367‐53620‐6 (paperback)

The vast amount of global industrialization has created enormous amounts of environmental pollutants. The accumulation of these metals in the soil, groundwater and waste streams has caused polluted lands to be unsuitable for human inhabitation and agriculture. Furthermore, these inorganic heavy metals are of primary concern because they cannot be destroyed by degradation. Consequently, many plants species have been successful in absorbing contaminants (i.e., inorganic and organic metals) and various radionuclides from soils. The remediation process to address contaminated soil problems that uses vascular plants, fungi and algae to either assist with the breakdown of waste using microorganisms or remove and control wastes is known as phytotechnology. Phytotechnology has received scientific and public acceptance due to it being environmentally friendly and a cost-effective approach for cleaning up the environment. Phytotechnology with Biomass Production: Sustainable Management of Contaminated Sites provides unique insight of the Miscanthus production on postmining and postmilitary contaminated sites and the impact of plant growth regulators and soil amendments- biochar, fertilizers, compost, and so forth. This book uses the Miscanthus (silvergrass) plant to implement remediation processes and explain concepts of phytotechnology with biomass production to improve soil quality and return contaminated property to productive use that has social and economic value. Based on case study research from the United States, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine and other countries, this book primarily focuses on the application of the bio-fuel crop, Miscanthus, to contaminated soil. Other important concepts discussed included: plant microbe-based technology, phytomanagement, phytomining, phytostabilization, and bioenergy. Introduction Larry E. Erickson (Kansas State University) and Valentina Pidlisnyuk (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic) Phytotechnologies for Site Remediation Valentina Pidlisnyuk (Kansas State University), Ganga M. Hettiarachchi (Kansas State University), Zeljka Zgorelec (University of Zagrev, Croatia), Melissa Prelac (Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Rural Development, Croatia), Nikola Bilandzija (University of Zagrev, Croatia), Lawrence C. Davis (Kansas State University), and Larry E. Erickson (Kansas State University) Remediation of Sites Contaminated by Organic Compounds Lawrence C. Davis (Kansas State University), Barbara Zeeb (Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston), Larry E. Erickson (Kansas State University), Aigerim Mamirova (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan) and Valentina Pidlisnyuk (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic) Phytomining Applied for Postmining Sites Hermann Heilmeier (Technische Universitat Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany) Establishing Miscanthus, Production of Biomass, and Application to Contaminated Sites Lawrence C. Davis (Kansas State University), Valentina Pidlisnyuk (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic), Aigerim Mamirova (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan), Pavlo Shapoval (National University Lvivska Polytechnika, Ukraine), and Tatyana Stefanovska (National University of Life and Environmental Science of Ukraine) Balancing Soil Health and Biomass Production Larry E. Erickson (Kansas State University) and Kraig Roozeboom (Kansas State University) Plant-Microbe Associations in Phytoremediation Asil Nurzhanova (Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, Kazakhstan), Aigerim Mamirova (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan), Josef Trogl (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic), Diana Nebeska (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic), and Valentina Pidlisnyuk (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic) Economics of Phytoremediation with Biomass Production Larry E. Erickson (Kansas State University), Jan Cerny (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic), and Valentina Pidlisnyuk (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic) Miscanthus Biomass for Alternative Energy Production Jikai Zhao (Kansas State University) Donghai Wang (Kansas State University), Valentina Pidlisnyuk (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic), and Larry E. Erickson (Kansas State University) Miscanthus as Raw Materials for Bio-based Products Valentina Pidlisnyuk (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic), Larry E. Erickson (Kansas State University), Donghai Wang (Kansas State University), Jikai Zhao (Kansas State University), Tatyana Stefanovska (National University of Life and Environmental Science of Ukraine), and John R. Schlup (Kansas State University) Conclusions and Recommendations Larry E. Erickson (Kansas State University), Valentina Pidlisnyuk (Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Czech Republic), and Lawrence C. Davis (Kansas State University) As a Civil/Environmental Engineering PhD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and had been engaged in phytoextraction of Cr6+, I find this book to be an excellent resource. This book provides critical and valuable information and does a great job of explaining the basics while providing numerous examples of successful application of Miscanthus to contaminated soil and various treatment technologies. One excellent feature of this book is the introduction/overview of new techniques and tools for monitoring and removing environmental contaminants, for example, phytomanagement, phytoextraction, and phytostabilization. I believe this handbook does a tremendous job of compiling useful information for research and industry about innovative phytotechnology research which is cited throughout this book. In my opinion, researchers, students, and professionals from a wide variety of disciplines would find this book as a very useful addition to their libraries. Reviewed by: Sandra Cutts, PhD., ORISE Post-Doctoral Researcher, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. Email: [email protected] Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.