scholarly journals Bioremediation Methods for the Recovery of Lead-Contaminated Soils: A Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Rigoletto ◽  
Paola Calza ◽  
Elisa Gaggero ◽  
Mery Malandrino ◽  
Debora Fabbri

Currently, the pollution of soils by heavy metals is a problem of paramount relevance and requires the development of proper remediation techniques. In particular, lead is a frequently detected soil contaminant that poses adverse effects to the environment and human health. In this review, we provide an overview of the bioremediation treatments promoted by plants (phytoremediation), fungi, or bacteria that could be applied to areas polluted by lead. These restoration processes have the advantage of being environmentally friendly and cost-effective solutions that exploit plants to immobilize and extract contaminants from soil and water, and fungi and bacteria to degrade them. Phytoremediation is an extensively studied and mature practice, with many in-the-field applications where numerous plant species have been employed. In contrast, bioremediation processes promoted by fungi and bacteria are very promising but, up to now, studies have been mostly performed at a laboratory scale with only a few implementations in real-world situations; therefore, further research is needed.

Author(s):  
Mojtaba Arjomandi ◽  
*Hamid Shirkhanloo

Heavy metals are vital and necessary in our daily lives. Moreover, if the amounts of heavy metals are more than the acceptable amounts (mentioned by WHO) in soil, water, and air, indeed, they cause a lot of diseases in human bodies. Therefore, monitoring and measuring the amounts of heavy metals that are arduous and difficult are so important. In this review paper, a lot of studies that have been carried out on the determination and quantification of heavy metals in human bodies, soil, and water are considered. Moreover, the effect of toxicity of each heavy metal on human health is assessed. According to WHO, EPA, NIOSH, ACGIH, and clinical chemistry, the determination of heavy metals such as Cd, Pb, Zn, Hg, Cu, Mn is very important in the human body and Environmental matrixes. 


Author(s):  
Guanghui Guo ◽  
Mei Lei ◽  
Yanwen Wang ◽  
Bo Song ◽  
Jun Yang

This study investigated the accumulation of As, Cd, and Pb in 16 wheat cultivars and the associated health risks for the inhabitants of Jiyuan, China. The results indicated that the concentrations of As, Cd, and Pb decreased in the order of root > leaf > stem > grain. The concentrations of As, Cd, and Pb in wheat grains varied from 0.13 for Pingan8 to 0.34 mg kg−1 for Zhengmai7698, 0.10 for Luomai26 to 0.25 mg kg−1 for Zhengmai7698, and 0.12 for Zhoumai207 to 0.42 mg kg−1 for Zhengmai379, respectively. There were significant differences in the bioaccumulation factors of As, Cd, and Pb among the 16 wheat cultivars. Cd was more readily accumulated to higher levels than As and Pb in wheat. The Target Hazard Quotients (THQs) of Cd and Pb in the grains from 16 wheat cultivars were below 1, while As THQ exceeded 1. The lowest detrimental human health effects via wheat consumption were found in cultivar AY58 among the 16 wheat cultivars, with total THQs (TTHQs) of 1.82 for children and 1.60 for adults, suggesting that children absorb more heavy metals than adults and they are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of these metals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 5486-5509

Quick industrial development, current farming practices, and other anthropogenic events enhance an important number of poisonous heavy metals in the atmosphere, which persuades severe poisonous effect on all the forms of living beings, which change the properties. This type of heavy metal pollution has ecological dangers as well as affects human health. Heavy metal contamination is mutagenic, endocrine, carcinogenic, and teratogenic, which causes nervous health problems mostly in kids. Further, an appropriate method for the remediation of adulteration of water along with soil is phytoremediation. In addition, it has been progressively utilized. Phytoremediation helps to improve the contaminated soil and water by the extraction of contaminating heavy metals, which is called phytoextraction and their phytostabilisation. Phytoremediation is based on many processes, and it is very eco-friendly, cost-effective, and economical. In this review, we aim to explain the detailed study of phytoremediation and current approaches.


2019 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 03024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolae Cioica ◽  
Cătălina Tudora ◽  
Dorin Iuga ◽  
György Deak ◽  
Monica Matei ◽  
...  

Heavy metals are among the most common types of contaminants in agricultural soils, especially those bordering the cities, due to the uncontrolled use of sewage sludge, compost, mining waste and chemical fertilizers. Excessive accumulation of heavy metals, which do not degrade over time, adversely affects crop yields by decreasing microbial activity and fertility of contaminated soils. Also, excess of heavy metals in the soil poses a serious threat to plant and animal health and, through their entry into the food chain, to human health. For this reason, the decontamination of soils contaminated with heavy metals has become a necessity. This review presents the current state of phytoremediation research as the most cost-effective method of in-situ environmental decontamination of soils contaminated with heavy metals.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pravin Shende ◽  
Nikita P. Devlekar

: Industrial wastewater is one of the by-products of several industries and it consists of water that requires treatment before it is discharged in water bodies. The presence of toxins in wastewater such as dyes and heavy metals is hazardous to human health and requires effective removal to reduce environmental pollution. Industrial wastewater treatment has become a global concern in healthcare and environment leading to the development of various technologies for the removal of toxins from wastewater. Various processes and technologies such as advanced oxidation processes, adsorption and membrane technology show potential in treating industrial wastewater. Another source of toxins in the form of pesticides is harmful to human health leading to severe health problems. Nanocomposites show potential as efficient adsorbents for the removal of toxins owing to the enhanced adsorption capacity, promising physicochemical properties and high surface-to-volume ratio due to nanoscale dimension. Nanocomposites are cost effective and efficient nanoadsorbents for the removal of various toxins. This review focuses on the potential applications of nanocomposites as adsorbents for the removal of toxins like dyes, heavy metals and pesticides from wastewater and biological systems. The use of nanocomposites as efficient adsorbents in the removal of toxins, various isotherm models and adsorption kinetics applied in the mechanism of adsorption are also discussed in the article. In the near future, nanocomposites may provide a simple, economical and efficient adsorption system for the removal of toxins from wastewater and biological systems.


Author(s):  
Shuangmei Tong ◽  
Hairong Li ◽  
Li Wang ◽  
Muyesaier Tudi ◽  
Linsheng Yang

This study provides an overview of the studies of heavy metal pollution regarding As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Cu, Zn and Ni in the urban soils throughout 71 cities of China, based on data from online literature, during the period 2003–2019. The concentrations, spatial distributions, contamination degrees and health risks of heavy metals in the urban soils were evaluated. The results demonstrated that the mean values of eight heavy metals all exceeded the soil background values in China, and the kriging interpolation method showed that the hot-spot cities with heavy metal contamination in urban soils were mainly concentrated in the southwest, southcentral, southeast coast, northcentral and northwest regions of China. The geoaccumulation index (Igeo) indicated that Hg and Cd were at moderate contamination levels and that the levels of the other six metals did not appear contamination. The pollution index (PI) showed that Cd and Hg reached high contamination levels, and the other metals reached moderate contamination levels. The integrated pollution index (IPI) and potential ecological risk index (PRI) indicated that the integral urban soils in the study areas ranked high contamination levels and moderate ecological risk degree, respectively, and Cd and Hg should be labeled as priority metals for control in the urban soils around China. The human health risk assessments for the heavy metals indicated that ingestion was the dominant exposure pathway for having adverse effects on human health. The mean Hazard index (HI) values of eight heavy metals all showed that adverse effects on human health were unlikely, and the mean carcinogenic (CR) values of As, Cr and Ni for children and adults all suggested an acceptable carcinogenic risk to human beings. In addition, children exposed to these heavy metals faced more serious non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health threats compared to adults. The results could provide valuable information for demanding the better control of heavy metal pollution and mitigation of the adverse effects on residents by environmental regulators in national urban regions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anam Rasool ◽  
Shazia Irum

Considering the importance of filamentous fungi for bioremediation of wastewater and contaminated soils, this study was planned to investigate the metal tolerance potential of indigenous filamentous fungi. Certain metals are important to biological actions. However all metals, whether essential or inessential will show toxicity at certain levels. During 2012 total 17 fungi were isolated and preserved from contaminated peri-urban agricultural areas of Multan and Gujranwala for further detail investigation of heavy metal tolerance. Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus isolated from both soil and water samples while Aspergillus terreus and Penicillium sp were only isolated from soil samples of Multan and Aspergillus versicolor, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus niger which were isolated from contaminated soils and water samples while Penicillium sp was isolated from only water samples of Gujranwala. These few fungal isolates were selected for tolerance to metal Cu (SO4)2.5H2O, Cd (NO3)2, Cr (NO3)2 and Pd (NO3)2. The tolerant strains were selected with increasing metals concentration of 100ppm and compared to control in the medium. The degree of tolerance was measured by radial growth (cm) in the presence of various heavy metals and compare to the control, which contain no heavy metals. The present study investigation concludes isolates Penicillium sp and Aspergillus flavus isolated from soil of Gujranwala show maximum tolerance index 2.1 at 100ppm toward Cr and 4.8 at 100ppm toward Cd respectively. Aspergillus Versicolor (isolated from waste water) exhibit considerable highest tolerance index toward Cu and Pb while show a sensitivity against other metals. From all the collected samples the Gujranwala soil and water show more tolerance toward the heavy metals as compared to Multan area.The present study indicates that in future similar strains will be tested with other heavy metals for the confirmation of tolerance and tolerant strains will be used for bioremediation of heavy metal.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suleiman Suleiman ◽  
Lesley Batty ◽  
Iseult Lynch

<p>Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of compounds with multiple rings that form part of the petroleum crude oil and are considered harmful to human health. The United State Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) have classified 16 PAHs as priority pollutants that can potentially cause cancer in human beings. These compounds normally enter the environment through oil spills that can negatively affect human health and the environment. The traditional methods used for soil remediation such as the engineering, thermal and chemical methods that involves excavation, heating and application of toxic chemicals often end up causing more harm to the environment. Thus, scientists are exploring the use of plants for the removal of pollutants from the soil known as phytoremediation in order to develop a cost effective, environmentally friendly and sustainable technique for soil remediation. This helps to overcome the issues identified in the traditional methods mentioned above as the treatment of pollutants occurs in situ without excavation and destruction of soil nor thermal heating or application of strong oxidising and reducing chemicals. This paper explains the results obtained from a study conducted on the phytoremediation of crude oil contaminated soil using Chrysopogon zizanioides under the influence of fertilizer and biosurfactants. In this research 70kg of soil was artificially spiked with 1kg of crude oil and allowed to weather for 100 days. Following this, the weathered soil was transferred into different terracotta pots for the purpose of greenhouse experiment. Thereafter, the seedlings of C. zizanioides were transplanted into the terracotta pots where some of the vegetated samples were treated with fertilizer and biosurfactants to promote the growth of the plant and solubilize the organic contaminants for easy absorption by the plants respectively. The result showed high reduction of 70% of the concentration of PAHs in samples treated with doses of both fertilizer and biosurfactants after a period of 8 months. The application of fertilizer and biosurfactants also promoted the growth of plants which resulted in high bioaccumulation of PAHs from the soil as compared to the control samples. However, the greatest yield in plant growth occurred in samples treated with fertilizer only which also resulted in the bioaccumulation of PAHs from the soil.  In conclusion the use of fertilizer and biosurfactants is highly recommended to improve the process of phytoremediation by promoting the growth of plants and enhancing the bioaccumulation and potential dissipation of organic pollutants from the soil. The benefits of this research include the creation of a cost saving, environmentally friendly and sustainable technology for soil remediation. In addition, the bye-products of the harvested plants used for the phytoremediation of crude oil contaminated soils can potentially be used as raw materials for the production of Biogas.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Waqar Ahmad ◽  
Rima D. Alharthy ◽  
Muhammad Zubair ◽  
Mahmood Ahmed ◽  
Abdul Hameed ◽  
...  

AbstractDue to urbanization and industrialization, there has been an increase in solid waste generation and has become a global concern and leakage of leachate from landfills contaminate the soil and groundwater and hence can have a severe impact on human health. The present study aimed to determine the composition of toxic metals (Cr, Mn, Cu, As) and heavy metals (Cd, Ba, Hg, Pb) in soil and water by an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). To ensure accuracy during the analysis of Cr, Mn, Cu, As, Cd, Ba, Hg, and Pb in real samples, certified reference material (CRM, SRM 2709a) of San Joaquin soil and water (SRM 1640a) were analyzed and results were presented in terms of % recovery studies. The mean concentration of all the metals in soil and water did not exceed the limit set by the European Community (EU), WHO, and US EPA except Cu where the permissible limit defined by the EU is 50–140 mg/kg in soil. The soil is uncontaminated to moderately contaminated with respect to all metals except the Cu and Pb. Among the average daily dose (ADD) of soil, ADDing and ADDinh for children had the maximum dose for all metals than adults while ADDderm was higher in adults. Hazard quotient (HQ) trend in both adults and children was found in order HQing > HQderm > HQinh of soil for all metals except Ba which followed HQing > HQinh > HQderm. Hazard index (HI) values of soil for Cr and Pb in children were 7 and 7.5 times higher than adults respectively. Lifetime cancer risk (LCR) value for Cr by different exposure pathways of soil was 5.361 × 10−4 for children which are at the lower borderline of risk for cancer.


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