Strategies for Remediating Environmental Pollution, and Applicable Indicators for Identifying them: Mini Review
Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2019, Vol 13, Issue 3
Abstract
Toxic chemicals are mostly released into the air, water, and soil due to anthropogenic activities or natural processes. These chemicals can be classified as organic or inorganic pollutants that can cause serious environmental contamination and render an environment inhabitable. Human activities help to proliferate chemical discharge (directly or indirectly) such as solvents, pesticides, and fossil fuels into the environment. Different approaches have been described as a means of environmental restoration such as the physical, chemical, and biological methods; however, transfer of contaminants from the point of source to an uncontaminated site limits this process. With the advent of biotechnology, a clear approach towards the use of microorganisms or plants for environmental restoration have been proposed and tested. Bioremediation is a very broad area of biotechnology that focuses on using phytoremediation and microorganisms as a strategy for environmental clean-up. For the most part, microorganisms play an important role in the transformation of organic and inorganic compounds in the environment. Some microorganisms use metals as a source of energy, and in return transforms it into a less toxic form. The time it takes to clean up a contaminated site depends on the concentration of the contaminants, the contaminated area, and among other physical conditions. For an effective bioremediation, these factors have to be in place. Bioremediation can be applied at the site of contamination (in-situ) or through the removal of the contaminants to a different location (ex-situ) under the influence of certain conditions like temperature, pH, carbon source, and moisture. Thus, this review will focus on discussing the different approaches of bioremediation and phytoremediation using microorganisms and some plants respectively to safely maintain an eco-friendly environment. Both prokaryote and eukaryote that useful in environmental bioremediation are discussed in this review. They include but not limited to bacteria, yeast, algae, and fungi. Some plants that have exhibited similar characteristics are discussed as well. This review further addressed the different methods of detecting toxic metals in the environment. Understanding the mechanisms used by some microbes and plants to remediate environmental contaminants is still not clear and requires additional attention.Environmental pollution can occur naturally as a result of volcanic eruption, radioactivity, wildland fire, or even dust from storms [1]. Rainfall can increase the runoff of some of the contaminants into the aquatic system [2-4]. However, human activities such as industrialization like mining, urbanization, and excessive use of fertilizers are mostly an integrate contributor to environmental pollution [2,5]. Gavrilescu in 2010 reported that due to increasing demands and developments, pollution in air, soil and water has amplified leading to increased air pollution (CO2 and hazardous chemical), water pollution (petroleum oil spill and many biological pollutants), and as well as chemical waste in soils [6]. Several chemical compounds have been identified as major causes of environmental pollution, some of which include iron (Fe), lead (Pb), tin (Sn), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), mercury (Hg), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), calcium (Ca), silver (Ag), a variety of hydrocarbons from crude oil, and many more [1]. Clean-up of these heavy metals can be an extremely tedious and expensive; in some case, damage is irreversible, thereby interfering with the environmental quality and overall health of humans and animals [7-9].
Authors and Affiliations
Timothy E Egbo, Ali Saber, Carrie A Sanders, Rajnish Sahu, Yazeed Abdelmageed, Boakai K Robertson
Keywords
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- EP ID EP594774
- DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2019.13.002390
- Views 156
- Downloads 0
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