Heavy Metals Bioremediation of Soil

E-waste is an end of the life span of electric or electronic appliances which contain the complex heavy metals. It is causing severe health concerns for millions of people around the world, mostly in the developing nations of India, Africa, Europe, etc. More of these wastes are ending up in dumping yards and recycling centers, cause a new challenge to the environment. In general electronic gadgets are intended to make our lives happier and simpler, but their toxicity, removal and recycling becomes a health horrendous. Many research papers have been reported on microbial remediation of heavy metals present in E-waste. The pioneer work was reported on 1998, bio-dissolution of spent nickel batteries using Thiobacillus ferroxidans, which is the first step to recycle and discarded batteries by using microbes as eco-friendly method. This review paper provides an insight in to the bioremediation of heavy metals from E-waste by potential microorganisms, in an eco-friendly way and provide pathway for current researchers.

NATO Science Series, 2005

Annual Review of Plant Biology, 2005

Journal of Toxicology

The discharge of untreated tannery wastewater containing biotoxic substances of heavy metals in the ecosystem is one of the most important environmental and health challenges in our society. Hence, there is a growing need for the development of novel, efficient, eco-friendly, and cost-effective approach for the remediation of inorganic metals (Cr, Hg, Cd, and Pb) released into the environment and to safeguard the ecosystem. In this regard, recent advances in microbes-base heavy metal have propelled bioremediation as a prospective alternative to conventional techniques. Heavy metals are nonbiodegradable and could be toxic to microbes. Several microorganisms have evolved to develop detoxification mechanisms to counter the toxic effects of these inorganic metals. This present review offers a critical evaluation of bioremediation capacity of microorganisms, especially in the context of environmental protection. Furthermore, this article discussed the biosorption capacity with respect to...

The challenging task of the 21st Century is to clean up the contaminants of the environment by ecofriendly, sustainable and economically adoptable technologies. Nanobioremediation is a new emerging technique for remediation of pollutants using biosynthetic nanoparticles. It is still a new area but growing rapidly in to the field of nanotechnology. The present review speculates on biosynthesis of nanoparticles from plants, bacteria, yeast and fungi which are emerging as nanofactories and potential application in environmental cleanup. The majority of the biogenic nanoparticles that have been tested have yielded very good results. The biosynthetic route of nanoparticle synthesis could emerge as a better and safer alternative to conventional methods.

Life has been said to exist in virtually all habitats. Of great astonishment is existence of life in habitats that were considered to be lethal and from which viable organisms were found to survive and even proliferate. Organisms that are able to tolerate these environments are referred to as extremophiles. Examples among many others include thermophiles and hyperthermophiles (tolerant to high temperature), psychrophiles (tolerant to low temperature), barophiles (tolerant to high atmospheric pressure), xerophiles (tolerant to dryness), metallophiles (tolerant to heavy metals). The developments of distinctive biomolecules and machineries that can function under these acute situationshave allowed extremophiles to tolerate, adapt and survive. The studies of these organisms, their habitats, biomolecules and products have been of great potential in numerous biotechnological applications, though many biotechnological processes are yet to adopt the use of extremophiles in their production. This article thus seeks to harness the various factors involved in microbial extremicity, current and possible future biotechnological applications of inherent potentials of these extremophiles and their biomolecules, towards sustainability of human life and his environments.

In the era of global industrialisation, the exploration of natural resources has served as a source of experimentation for science and advanced technologies, giving rise to the manufacturing of products with high aggregate value in the world market, such as biosurfactants. Biosurfactants are amphiphilic microbial molecules with hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties that partition at liquid/liquid, liquid/gas or liquid/solid interfaces. Such characteristics allow these biomolecules to play a key role in emulsification, foam formation, detergency and dispersal, which are desirable qualities in different industries. Biosurfactant production is considered one of the key technologies for development in the 21st century. Besides exerting a strong positive impact on the main global problems, biosurfactant production has considerable importance to the implantation of sustainable industrial processes, such as the use of renewable resources and " green " products. Biodegradability and low toxicity have led to the intensification of scientific studies on a wide range of industrial applications for biosurfactants in the field of bioremediation as well as the petroleum, food processing, health, chemical, agricultural and cosmetic industries. In this paper, we offer an extensive review regarding knowledge accumulated over the years and advances achieved in the incorporation of biomolecules in different industries.