scholarly journals Phytoremediation technology for removal of heavy metals: A brief review

Author(s):  
Geetanjali Singh ◽  
Ram Singh

Heavy metals, when exceeds the permissible limits, regarded as environmental pollutants. The agricultural fields, along with countryside areas are the most affected areas due to heavy metal contaminants affecting the crop yields. When these heavy metals find their way into the food chain possess a serious threat to plant and animal health. The industrial discharge, mining waste, chemical fertilizer industries are some of the main sources of heavy metal accumulation. The removal or reduction of these heavy metals from the agricultural fields are the unceasing requirements. One of the important and easy methods is removal or reduction with the help of plants which is known as phytoremediation, and it takes advantage of the remarkable ability of plants to concentrate elements and compound from the environment. This technology is immerging as a cost-effective way to address high cost involved in pollution abatement technologies. Toxic heavy metals and organic pollutants are the major targets for phytoremediation. This review article discusses the state of phytoremediation technology for the removal of heavy metals mainly from the soil.

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-22
Author(s):  
Saifeldin M. Siddeeg ◽  
Mohamed A. Tahoon ◽  
Norah S. Alsaiari ◽  
Muhamad Shabbir ◽  
Faouzi B. Rebah

Background: Nanomaterials offer promising remediation techniques for water containing toxic pollutants especially heavy metals. Method: A complete analysis of the application of nano-adsorbents for heavy metals removal from water has been reviewed. The effect of their functionalization on the adsorption capacity, the reusability, and the surface area has also been discussed. Result: In particular, the focus was on the applications of graphene oxide, carbon, silica, titanium dioxide, and iron oxide for water treatment. Additionally, the effect of functional groups on heavy metal selectivity has been discussed as well. Conclusion: This article will provide environmental engineers and academicians with information related to the latest engineered nanomaterials employed for the treatment of wastewater containing toxic heavy metals.


Soil Systems ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
George A. Meindl ◽  
Mark I. Poggioli ◽  
Daniel J. Bain ◽  
Michael A. Colón ◽  
Tia-Lynn Ashman

Serpentine soils are a stressful growing environment for plants, largely due to nutrient deficiencies and high concentrations of toxic heavy metals (e.g., Ni). Plants have evolved various adaptations for tolerating these extreme environments, including metal hyperaccumulation into above-ground tissues. However, the adaptive significance of metal hyperaccumulation is a topic of debate, with several non-mutually-exclusive hypotheses under study. For example, the inadvertent uptake hypothesis (IUH) states that heavy metal accumulation is a consequence of an efficient nutrient-scavenging mechanism for plants growing in nutrient-deficient soils. Thus, it is possible that metal hyperaccumulation is simply a byproduct of non-specific ion transport mechanisms allowing plants to grow in nutrient-deficient soils, such as serpentine soils, while simultaneously tolerating other potentially toxic heavy metals. Furthermore, some nutrient needs are tissue-specific, and heavy metal toxicity can be more pronounced in reproductive tissues; thus, studies are needed that document nutrient and metal uptake into vegetative and reproductive plant tissues across species of plants that vary in the degree to which they accumulate soil metals. To test these ideas, we grew nine plant species that are variously adapted to serpentine soils (i.e., Ni-hyperaccumulating endemic, non-hyperaccumulating endemic, indicator, or indifferent) in a common garden greenhouse experiment. All species were grown in control soils, as well as those that were amended with the heavy metal Ni, and then analyzed for macronutrient (Ca, Mg, K, and P), micronutrient (Cu, Fe, Zn, Mn, and Mo), and heavy metal (Cr and Co) concentrations in their vegetative and reproductive organs (leaves, anthers, and pistils). In accordance with the IUH, we found that hyperaccumulators often accumulated higher concentrations of nutrients and metals compared to non-hyperaccumulating species, although these differences were often organ-specific. Specifically, while hyperaccumulators accumulated significantly more K and Co across all organs, Cu was higher in leaves only, while Mn and Zn were higher in anthers only. Furthermore, hyperaccumulators accumulated significantly more Co and Mo across all organs when Ni was added to the soil environment. Our work provides additional evidence in support of the IUH, and contributes to our understanding of serpentine adaptation in plants.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-210
Author(s):  
Halime Elgamoudi ◽  
Gordardana Drazic

Monitoring of the state of the environment in the waterway itself and in the entire catchment area is important for its sustainable development. Heavy metals are strong environmental pollutants and many of them are toxic, even at very low concentrations. In this study River Drina was chosen due to these unique characteristics: the great river with large auto purification ability but in pressure of anthropogenic activities including hydropower plants, border between countries. The aim of this research was to compare data from chemical analyses of Ni, Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd, As, Pb and Hg contents in water, suspended solids and sediment with its contents in native macrophytes, Myriophyllum spicatum, and Potamogeton pusillus, in reservoirs of hydropower plants Bajina Bašta and Zvornik, on river Drina in Republic of Serbia. Contents of heavy metals in water were low and belongs to water class I. Heavy metal concentrations exceeds the limit values for Ni (184 mg/kg), Zn (3233 mg/kg), Cd (0.0042 mg/kg), Cu (157 mg/kg) and As (109 mg/kg) in Zvornik reservoir in suspended solids and sediment and for Zn (1048 mg/kg), Cu (402 mg/kg) and Hg (2.24 mg/kg) in Bajina Bašta reservoir, in suspended solids. In all the examined cases heavy metal contents in macrophytes were significantly higher than in water and relationship with suspended solids and sediment depends to plant species and metal. For Ni, Cd and As accumulation was obseved only in Myriophyllum spicatum, for Cu and Pb in both types. The obtained results indicate the need for further monitoring of the concentration of heavy metals in macrophytes, as well as sediment and suspended solids, in order to indicate and assess the quality of the aquatic ecosystem.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Othman Aljahdali ◽  
Abdullahi Bala Alhassan

The pursuit of a good candidate to biomonitor environmental pollutants has been on the increase. In this study, the concentrations of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr, Pb and Ni in sediment, seawater and seagrass Cymodocea serrulata compartments and antioxidant enzymes activities in C. serrulata were determined. Our results revealed that bioconcentration factors for all the metals were less than 1 (BCF < 1) and concentrations in seagrass compartments were in the order root > leaf > rhizome for Fe and Mn, leaf > root > rhizome for Cu, Zn, Pb and Ni, and root > rhizome > leaf for Cd and Cr. Effect range low concentrations (ER-L) revealed that Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb and Ni concentrations were above ER-L values and Cr concentration was below ER-L values while concentrations in seawater for all the heavy metals were above the estimate average element concentrations in seawater (ECS). Significant variation (p < 0.05) was recorded for heavy metals in sediment, seawater, seagrass compartments and heavy metal concentrations across stations. Influence of heavy metals on antioxidant enzymes activities; catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) were recorded, and high activities of the antioxidants were recorded in station S8 corresponding to high concentrations of heavy metals in the same station. There is a need for the promotion of biomonitoring networks across the marine environment using C. serrulata and antioxidant enzymes as biomarkers of oxidative stress caused by environmental pollutants.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajni Dhalaria ◽  
Dinesh Kumar ◽  
Harsh Kumar ◽  
Eugenie Nepovimova ◽  
Kamil Kuča ◽  
...  

Heavy metal accumulation in plants is a severe environmental problem, rising at an expeditious rate. Heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic, mercury and lead are known environmental pollutants that exert noxious effects on the morpho-physiological and biological attributes of a plant. Due to their mobile nature, they have become an extended part of the food chain and affect human health. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi ameliorate metal toxicity as they intensify the plant’s ability to tolerate metal stress. Mycorrhizal fungi have vesicles, which are analogous to fungal vacuoles and accumulate massive amount of heavy metals in them. With the help of a pervasive hyphal network, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi help in the uptake of water and nutrients, thereby abating the use of chemical fertilizers on the plants. They also promote resistance parameters in the plants, secrete a glycoprotein named glomalin that reduces the metal uptake in plants by forming glycoprotein–metal complexes, and improve the quality of the soil. They also assist plants in phytoremediation by increasing the absorptive area, increase the antioxidant response, chelate heavy metals and stimulate genes for protein synthesis that reduce the damage caused by free radicals. The current manuscript focuses on the uptake of heavy metals, accumulation, and arbuscular mycorrhizal impact in ameliorating heavy metal stress in plants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Mensah ◽  
David J. Lewis ◽  
Nathaniel O. Boadi ◽  
Johannes A. M. Awudza

Contamination of water and soil with toxic heavy metals is a major threat to human health. Although extensive work has been performed on reporting heavy metal pollutions globally, there are limited review articles on addressing this pernicious phenomenon. This paper reviews inorganic nanoparticles and provides a framework for their qualities required as good nanoadsorbents for efficient removal of heavy metals from water. Different inorganic nanoparticles including metals, metal oxides and metal sulfides nanoparticles have been applied as nanoadsorbents to successfully treat water with high contaminations of heavy metals at concentrations greater than 100 mg l −1 , achieving high adsorption capacities up to 3449 mg g −1 . It has been identified that the synthesis method, selectivity, stability, regeneration and reusability, and adsorbent separation from solution are critical parameters in deciding on the quality of inorganic nanoadsorbents. Surface functionalized nanoadsorbents were found to possess high selectivity and capacity for heavy metals removal from water even at a very low adsorbent dosage of less than 2 g l −1 , which makes them better than conventional adsorbents in environmental remediation.


Author(s):  
MdDidarul Islam, Ashiqur Rahaman, Aboni Afrose

This study was based on determining concentration of essential and toxic heavy metal in coconut water available at a local Hazaribagh area in Dhaka, Bangladesh. All essential minerals, if present in the drinking water at high concentration or very low concentration, it has negative actions. In this study, fifteen samples and eight heavy metals were analyzed by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) method which was followed by wet ashing digestion method. The concentration obtained in mg/l were in the range of 0.3 to 1.5, 7.77 to 21.2, 0 to 0.71, 0 to 0.9, 0 to 0.2, 0.9 to 17.3, 0.1 to 0.9, 0 to 0.9 and 0 to 0.7 for Fe, Ni, Cu, Cd, Cr, Zn, Pb and Se respectively. From this data it was concluded that any toxic heavy metals like Cd, Cr, Pb and Ni exceed their toxicity level and some essential nutrients were in low concentration in those samples. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 1695-1698
Author(s):  
Marin Rusanescu ◽  
Carmen Otilia Rusanescu ◽  
Gheorghe Voicu ◽  
Mihaela Begea

A calcium bentonite from Orasu Nou deposit (Satu Mare Romania) was used as raw material. We have conducted laboratory experiments to determine the influence of bentonite on the degree of heavy metal retention. It has been observed that the rate of retention increases as the heavy metal concentration decreases. Experimental studies have been carried out on metal retention ( Zn) in bentonite. In this paper, we realized laboratory experiments for determining the influence of metal (Zn) on the growth and development of two types of plants (Pelargonium domesticum and Kalanchoe) and the effect of bentonite on the absorption of pollutants. These flowers were planted in unpolluted soil, in heavy metal polluted soil and in heavy metal polluted soil to which bentonite was added to observe the positive effect of bentonite. It has been noticed that the flowers planted in unpolluted soil and polluted with heavy metals to which bentonite has been added, the flowers have flourished, the leaves are still green and the plants whose soils have been polluted with heavy metals began to dry after 6 days, three weeks have yellowish leaves and flowers have dried. Experiments have demonstrated the essential role of bentonite for the removal of heavy metals polluted soil.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elijah Abakpa Adegbe ◽  
Oluwaseyi Oluwabukola Babajide ◽  
Lois Riyo Maina ◽  
Shola Elijah Adeniji

Abstract Background Heavy metal accumulation in the ecosystem constitutes a potential toxic effect which is hazardous to human health. Increasing environmental pollution has necessitated the use of cattle egrets to evaluate the levels of heavy metal contamination, to establish their use in biomonitoring of heavy metals and to provide data for monitoring pollution in the environment. Results The present study assessed the utilization of Bubulcus ibis in monitoring pollution in five abattoirs, namely Agege, Bariga, Kara, Itire and Idi-Araba, all situated in Lagos State. The concentration of five (5) heavy metals, cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) was determined in the liver, muscle and feather of Bubulcus ibis using the atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The trend of metal accumulation was in the order: Zn > Cu > Pb > Cd > Ni for all the sampled tissues. The mean tissue concentrations of the metals were significantly different (p < 0.05) among the sites. The highest levels of metal concentration were reported in the liver in all the locations. Mean concentration of Cd in Kara (0.003 ± 0.00058) was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those found at Agege (0.0013 ± 0.00058) and Idi-Araba (0.001 ± 0.001). A significant difference (p < 0.05) was also observed between the mean concentrations of Cu in Bariga (0.01 ± 0.001) and Idi-Araba (0.003 ± 0.001). Conclusion All the studied heavy metals were present in the liver, muscle and feathers of the cattle egrets. The contamination levels were ascertained from the study which indicated that cattle egrets are useful in biomonitoring studies and the generated data will serve as baseline data which could be compared with data from other locations for monitoring heavy metal pollution.


Author(s):  
Monika Hejna ◽  
Elisabetta Onelli ◽  
Alessandra Moscatelli ◽  
Maurizio Bellotto ◽  
Cinzia Cristiani ◽  
...  

Sustainable agriculture is aimed at long-term crop and livestock production with a minimal impact on the environment. However, agricultural practices from animal production can contribute to global pollution due to heavy metals from the feed additives that are used to ensure the nutritional requirements and also promote animal health and optimize production. The bioavailability of essential mineral sources is limited; thus, the metals are widely found in the manure. Via the manure, metallic ions can contaminate livestock wastewater, drastically reducing its potential recycling for irrigation. Phytoremediation, which is an efficient and cost-effective cleanup technique, could be implemented to reduce the wastewater pollution from livestock production, in order to maintain the water conservation. Plants use various strategies for the absorption and translocation of heavy metals, and they have been widely used to remediate livestock wastewater. In addition, the pollutants concentrated in the plants can be exhausted and used as heat to enhance plant growth and further concentrate the metals, making recycling a possible option. The biomass of the plants can also be used for biogas production in anaerobic fermentation. Combining phytoremediation and biorefinery processes would add value to both approaches and facilitate metal recovery. This review focuses on the concept of agro-ecology, specifically the excessive use of heavy metals in animal production, the various techniques and adaptations of the heavy-metal phytoremediation from livestock wastewater, and further applications of exhausted phytoremediated biomass.


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