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Remediation of heavy metal contaminated ecosystem: an overview on technology advancement
Singh, A. & Prasad, S.M.
Abstract
The issue of heavy metal pollution is very
much concerned because of their toxicity for plant, animal
and human beings and their lack of biodegradability.
Excess concentrations of heavy metals have adverse effects
on plant metabolic activities hence affect the food production,
quantitatively and qualitatively. Heavy metal
when reaches human tissues through various absorption
pathways such as direct ingestion, dermal contact, diet
through the soil–food chain, inhalation and oral intake may
seriously affect their health. Therefore, several management
practices are being applied to minimize metal toxicity
by attenuating the availability of metal to the plants. Some
of the traditional methods are either extremely costly or
they are simply applied to isolate contaminated site. The
biology-based technology like use of hypermetal accumulator
plants occurring naturally or created by transgenic
technology, in recent years draws great attention to remediate
heavy metal contamination. Recently, applications of
nanoparticle for metal remediation are also attracting great
research interest due to their exceptional adsorption and
mechanical properties and unique electrical property,
highly chemical stability, and large specific surface area.
Thus, the present review deals with different management
approaches to reduce level of metal contamination in soil
and finally to the food chain.
Keywords
Heavy metal; Toxicity; Remediation; Nanotechnology
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