Recent advances in bioremediation of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants: A review

Abstract

Heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants are causing detrimental effects on the environment. The seepage of heavy metals through untreated industrial waste destroys the crops and lands. Moreover, incineration and combustion of several products are responsible for primary and secondary emissions of pollutants. This review has gathered the remediation strategies, current bioremediation technologies, and their primary use in both in situ and ex situ methods, followed by a detailed explanation for bioremediation over other techniques. However, an amalgam of bioremediation techniques and nanotechnology could be a breakthrough in cleaning the environment by degrading heavy metals and persistant organic pollutants.

Keywords: Bacterial assisted phytoremediation; Bioremediation; Fungi assisted phytoremediation; HMs; Heavy metals; Nanozymes; POPs; Persitant organic pollutants; Phytoremediation; Pollutants; Soil.