ABSTRACT
The safe disposal of distillery sludge in the environment is challenging due to high concentrations of heavy metals along with complex organic pollutants. Since heavy metals are nonbiodegradable, they tend to accumulate in the environment and subsequently contaminate the food chain. Hence, the use of phytoremediation approach, to remove and/or stabilize heavy metals and recalcitrant organic pollutants from contaminated sludge, could be a valuable tool to improve sludge quality with a more economical and environmentallyfriendly way. However, exclusively derived processes by plants alone are time-consuming due to limited uptake of organic and inorganic pollutants, slow degradability, and evapotranspiration of volatile compounds. Besides, the high level of pollutants poses toxic effect on remediate plant. This situation could be ameliorated and accelerated by exploring the plant-bacteria partnership, which would improve the plant growth in a polluted environment and ultimately improved phytoremediation efficiency. This chapter provides a view of the recent progress made toward the role of plants and their rhizospheric bacterial communities in accelerating in-phytoremediation capabilities of hazardous complex distillery waste and their potential use in eco-restoration of a contaminated site. In addition, different challenges and future prospects for phytoremediation of distillery waste have also been discussed for sustainable development.
