ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF BIOCONVERSION PROCESSES

Traditional as well as biotechnological processing of a heterogeneous adduct like coal will lead to a complex mixture of various unknown com pounds, The implementation of a chemical-by-chemical approach as made possible by the development of more specific chemical and physical ana lytics is only a limited tool to protect the environment against hazar dous discharges. Therefore, investigations carried out were focused on selection, adaption and validation of bioassays suited for a sensitiv e and reproducible valuation of coal relevant products. Bioassays with organisms representing different trophic levels like bacteria, daphni a and algae were used for determination of ecotoxicological/toxicologi cal effects. The obtained results show the suitability of these bioass ays for the valuation of ecotoxicological effects of coal-relevant sub stances and different model compounds similar to microbial transformat ion/conversion products of coal. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.