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Phytoremediation: A Cost-Effective Tool for Solid Waste Management

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Handbook of Solid Waste Management

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Abstract

Pollution of the natural environment by heavy metals (Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Mo, and Ni) is a universal problem, because these metals are indestructible and most of them have toxic effects on living organisms when permissible concentration levels are exceeded, and many of them are toxic even at very low concentrations. Heavy metals make a significant contribution to environmental pollution as a result of human activities such as mining, smelting, electroplating, energy and fuel production, power transmission, intensive agriculture, municipal wastes, sludge dumping, and military operations. Several methods already used to clean up the environment from these kinds of contaminants, but most of them are costly and difficult to get optimum results. Currently, phytoremediation is an effective and affordable technological solution used to extract or remove inactive metals and metal pollutants from contaminated soil and water. This technology is environmentally friendly and potentially cost effective. Plants absorb heavy metals through the root from the soil and through overground vegetative organs from the atmosphere. Most heavy metals accumulate in the top soil and in the long term, their contaminations increase in the soil as a result of an increased absorption and accumulation in plants. The quantity or level of heavy metals absorption in plants depends not only on the concentration levels of the metals in the physical and chemical composition of the soil but also varies in different parts of the plant. This chapter aims to compile some information about heavy metal sources, effects, and their treatment, phytoremediation technology through specially horticultural crops, including the heavy metal uptake mechanisms, and several research studies associated about the topics. The advantages of this kind of technology for reducing them affecting the uptake mechanisms in phytoremediation technology as well as the factors affecting the uptake mechanisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fruit Science, Horticulture College, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

    Arkendu Ghosh

  2. Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

    Vijay Kant Singh

  3. Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, Murshidabad, West Bengal, India

    Koyel Dey

  4. Department of Floriculture Landscape Architecture (Floriculture), Horticulture College, Khuntpani, Chaibasa, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

    Monika Patel

  5. Department of Basic Science, Hoticulture College, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

    Apurba Pal

Authors
  1. Arkendu Ghosh
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  2. Vijay Kant Singh
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  3. Koyel Dey
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  4. Monika Patel
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  5. Apurba Pal
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research and Development Center, Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Chinnappan Baskar

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Center for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Seeram Ramakrishna

  3. Chemistry and Bioprospecting Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

    Shikha Baskar

  4. Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Rashmi Sharma

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Center for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Amutha Chinnappan

  6. Department of Basic Science, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Rashmi Sehrawat

Section Editor information

  1. Research and Development Center, Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, India

    Chinnappan Baskar

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Ghosh, A., Singh, V.K., Dey, K., Patel, M., Pal, A. (2022). Phytoremediation: A Cost-Effective Tool for Solid Waste Management. In: Baskar, C., Ramakrishna, S., Baskar, S., Sharma, R., Chinnappan, A., Sehrawat, R. (eds) Handbook of Solid Waste Management. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4230-2_47

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