Chapter 16

Remediation for Heavy Metal

Contamination

A Nanotechnological Approach

Rubina Khanam, Amaresh Kumar Nayak* and

Dibyendu Chatterjee

16.1 Introduction

Pollution is defined as the presence of undesirable chemical objects that obstruct natural processes

or have negative consequences for living beings and the environment. Pollution is increasing

at an alarming rate as a result of industrialization and the massive rise in population that leads

to rising urbanization. Environmental pollution identification, treatment and prevention is a

critical step toward long-term environmental sustainability. Environment sustainability refers to

the responsible and justifiable relationship between humans and the environment, as well as the

intelligent use of resources, ensuring environmental safety for current and future generations.

Economic and environmental sustainability are inextricably linked (Fajardo et al. 2020). A lot of

work is being done right now to discover and create persuasive and dependable ways for degrading

or transforming environmental contaminants of concern. Nanoremediation is a groundbreaking

remediation technique that employs nanomaterials having high surface: volume ratio, low reduction

potential and quantum confinement making them efficient for the detoxification and alteration of

hazardous recalcitrant pollutants in the system (Fajardo et al. 2020). In particular, when compared

to standard remediation procedures (viz., chemical oxidation, thermal decomposition and solvent

co-flushing), the use of nanomaterials in environmental remediation has gained a lot of attention.

Nanoremediation methods have drawn a lot of interest because of their unique qualities, such as cost-

effectiveness, sensitivity, superior electrical properties, high surface area and improved catalytic

properties (Shafi et al. 2021). These techniques have the potential to give long-term solutions

to environmental pollution issues, while also reducing the cost of cleaning (Shafi et al. 2021).

Nanostructure-based technologies have the potential to reduce not only the overall costs of cleaning

up large-scale contaminated areas but also to reduce clean-up time, minimize the need for polluted

material treatment and disposal, and decrease pollutant concentrations to near zero-all in-situ

(Corsi et al. 2018). Nanoremediation involves the applications of nano-sized metal and bimetallic

ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack 753006, Odisha, India.

* Corresponding author: aknayak20@yahoo.com