Abstract
Rapid growth in population, industry, urbanization and intensive agriculture have led to soil and water pollution by various contaminants. Nanoremediation has become one of the most successful emerging technologies for cleaning up soil and water contaminants due to the high reactivity of nanomaterials (NMs). Numerous publications are available on the use of NMs for removing contaminants, and the efficiencies are often improved by modifications of NMs with polymers, clay minerals, zeolites, activated carbon, and biochar. This paper critically reviews the current state-of-the-art NMs used for sustainable soil and water remediation, focusing on their applications in novel remedial approaches, such as adsorption/filtration, catalysis, photodegradation, electro-nanoremediation, and nano-bioremediation. Insights into process performances, modes of deployment, potential environmental risks and their management, and the consequent societal and economic implications of using NMs for soil and water remediation indicate that widespread acceptance of nanoremediation technologies requires not only a substantial advancement of the underpinning science and engineering aspects themselves, but also practical demonstrations of the effectiveness of already recognized approaches at real world in-situ conditions. New research involving green nanotechnology, nano-bioremediation, electro-nanoremediation, risk assessment of NMs, and outreach activities are needed to achieve successful applications of nanoremediation at regional and global scales.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2611-2660 |
Number of pages | 50 |
Journal | Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology |
Volume | 52 |
Issue number | 15 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords
- Environmental protection
- green and sustainable remediation
- soil pollution
- soil remediation
- sustainable development goals
- wastewater treatment
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Engineering
- Water Science and Technology
- Waste Management and Disposal
- Pollution