ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the environmental chemistry of hazardous materials, and considers the following five aspects based upon the definition of environmental chemistry: origins, transport, reactions, effects, and fates. Hazardous materials almost always originate in the anthrosphere, are often discarded to the geosphere, and are frequently transported through the hydrosphere or the atmosphere. The greatest concern for their effects is usually on the biosphere, particularly human beings. The environmental movement, effects, and fates of hazardous waste compounds are strongly related to their chemical properties. Physically, chemically, and biologically, water is a unique substance, a fact that has a strong influence on the environmental chemistry of hazardous wastes in the hydrosphere. Hazardous waste species undergo a number of physical, chemical, and biochemical processes in the hydrosphere which strongly influence their effects and fates. The following terms and concepts apply to the metabolic processes by which microorganisms biodegrade hazardous wastes substances: biotransformation, metabolism, catabolism, and anabolism.
