NANOTECHNOLOGY FOR BIOREMEDIATION OF HEAVY METALS

Currently, pollution due to heavy metals in wastewater, groundwater, lakes, and streams has caused
serious long-term health impacts in human beings. Industrialization makes the conventional
methods unsuitable for the treatment due to their nonspecificity, decrease in efficiency, and cost
expensive. To overcome these difficulties, few studies have been reported by combining the
biological methods with other remediation techniques such as biophysical methods, biochemical
methods, physio-chemical methods, and nano-based physiochemical methods.

Current treatment technologies for the removal of heavy metals are:

1. Physical Treatment - Precipitation, Ion exchange, Electrowinning, Electrocoagulation,

Membrane filtration, Electrodialysis

2. Chemical methods - Reduction, Chemical washing, Chelate flushing

3. Biological methods - Bioremediation, Biosorption, BIofiltration, Biophysiochemical method,

Bioaugmentation, Phytoremediation

Use of Nanotechnology
Nanomaterials (NMs) are defined as the materials having size ranging from 1 through 100 nm with
a minimum of one dimension. In this small scale, NMs possess unique properties compared to the
other materials. Many of these materials have been explored for application in wastewater treat-
ment. They utilize the size-dependent properties of NMs, such as high surface area, high reactivity,
strong sorption, and faster dissolution. Although many nano-based technologies are successful on
the laboratory scale, only few technologies have been used for small-scale testing or commer-
cialization. Such nano-based technologies include nanotechnology-associated membranes, nano-
adsorbents, and nano-photocatalysts. Although products based on these three approaches have been
commercialized, they are not successful in large-scale wastewater treatment.

In the recent past, applications of nanotechnology for feasible solutions in wastewater treatment
have been adopted. NMs having unique properties combined with conventional treatment
techniques provide wide opportunities to make dramatic changes in wastewater treatment
methodologies. The combination of both nanoscience and engineering offers better opportunities in
the restoration of heavy metal- contaminated groundwater.

Nanoparticles as adsorbents:
NMs exhibit good adsorbent properties due to their larger surface area and high affinity toward the
target compound/compounds when functionalized with various chemical groups. For the removal of
heavy metals, the adsorption process is considered to be the better remediation option compared to
conventional treatment technologies. The adsorption process has several advantages, such as greater
efficiency, operational simplicity, and cost effectiveness. Examples - Polymers, chitosan
methacrylic acid (MAA), Metals, Iron based, etc are few commonly used adsorbents

Nanobiomaterials for heavy metal remediation:

Studies were conducted on some bacteria to produce an iron sulfide compound which acts as an
adsorbent for several toxic metal ions. Apart from bacteria, Noaea mucronata is a plant species used
for the accumulation of heavy metals, such as lead, copper, cadmium, zinc, iron, and nickel. The
nanoparticles obtained from this plant are used for the bioremediation of heavy metal con-
taminants from groundwater, streams, and rivers. The study results envisage that the initial
concentrations of the above mentioned heavy metals decreased relatively after 3 days of
remediation

Carbon-based nanoparticles:
Carbon-based NMs are extensively used for the removal of heavy metals because of its nontoxicity
and greater adsorption capacity. The first used adsorbent commonly used for metal ion removal is
activated carbon, but it is difficult for activated carbon to reduce up to ppb levels.

Nanofibers:
Electrospinning is a plain, proficient, and cheaper method for the production of ultra-fine nanofibers
by means of resources such as metals, polymers, or ceramics. These nanofibers form mats with
complex pore structures due to their porosity and higher surface area. The physical properties such
as morphology, composition, diameter, spatial arrangement, and secondary derivatives of these
electrospun nanofibers are fabricated depending upon particular fields of application. Nanofiber
membranes have been commercially used as air filters, but their application in treating wastewater
has not yet been evaluated. The membranous nanofibers removes microparticles at a higher
elimination rate but there is no foul formation from the aqueous solutions. Hence, it has been
deployed as the preliminary treatment preceding the ultrafiltration or RO processes

Heavy metals that are predominantly considered as toxic materials that need immediate remediation
are lead, mercury, copper, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, etc. Emerging applications of NMs will
endeavor to find an effective remediation solution for removing these heavy metals. Furthermore,
specific control and design of NMs at the molecular level will give increased affinity, capacity, and
selectivity of pollutants which lead to the reduced releases of hazardous substances into the air and
water, providing safe drinking water