A Comprehensive Review on the Role of Bioremediation in Heavy Metal Contamination
2024
Princy Rajput, Shashank Benjwal and Rohit Pandey
Heavy metal contamination, along with other pollutants, presents significant environmental hazards. These substances not only endanger human health but also disrupt natural ecosystem. Bioremediation emerges as a sustainable and economically viable approach to tackling pollution. It harnesses the capabilities of microorganisms, plants, and their enzymes to degrade or neutralize pollutants. This paper categorizes bioremediation into two primary types: ex-situ and in-situ. Ex-situ bioremediation treats contaminated material away from its original location, while in-situ bioremediation addresses contamination directly at the site. This paper also explores how microbes tolerate heavy metals through various mechanisms. These mechanisms encompass extracellular barriers, efflux pumps, enzymatic reduction, and intracellular sequestration. Extracellular barriers function to block the entry of metals into the cell, whereas efflux pumps work actively to expel metals from the cell. Enzymatic reduction facilitates the conversion of metals into less harmful forms, while intracellular sequestration involves storing metals within the cell. Moreover, the paper examines diverse applications of bioremediation in environmental restoration. These applications encompass natural attenuation, enhanced reductive dechlorination, sewage treatment, bioleaching, biosorption, constructed wetlands, biostimulation, and bioaugmentation. This paper emphasizes the need for further research to optimize bioremediation technologies for broader real-world environmental management applications.
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