This book sheds light on this global environmental issue and proposes solutions to reduce contamination through multi-disciplinary approaches. Water is considered a vital resource because it is necessary for all aspects of human and ecosystem survival. However, due to natural processes and anthropogenic activities, various pollutants have been added to the groundwater system. Among these, heavy metals are some of the most serious pollutants. Cd, a toxic heavy metal used in Ni-Cd batteries, the coloration of plastic and various discarded electronic products released into the water system causes serious health issues. The chronic exposure to Cd produces a wide variety of acute and chronic effects in humans.

Arsenic contamination in drinking water and crops is a major health issue in many countries worldwide, threatening the health of millions of people due to arsenic’s toxicity and carcinogenicity. This edited volume brings together a diverse group of environmental science, sustainability and health researchers to address the challenges posed by arsenic contamination. The book sheds light on this global environmental issue and proposes solutions to aquatic contamination through multi-disciplinary sustainable approaches and case studies from different parts of the world. The chapters contained here present the status quo in different parts of the world and provide essential information on arsenic exposure risks for humans as well as possible measures for tackling arsenic poisoning. The mechanisms of arsenic uptake, translocation and distribution in plants and grains are also explained. In closing, the book reviews a variety of prospective sustainable solutions to the problem of arsenic accumulation in soil and water.

This book on biopolymers offers a comprehensive source for biomaterial professionals. It covers all elementary topics related to the properties of biopolymers, the production, and processing of biopolymers, applications of biopolymers, examples of biopolymers, and the future of biopolymers.

Natural dyes offer a time-tested and generally more sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes in the textile industry. The issues surrounding synthetic dyes are well-known, and in the literature it is generally accepted that natural dyes have a smaller environmental impact. However, even natural dyes have issues that must be dealt with in order to ensure sustainability in the industry. For example, the mordants needed to improve the dyeing process may release hazardous heavy metal pollutants when used. This book is dedicated to exploring cases such as this that illustrate the benefits and drawbacks to natural dyes and steps that must be taken for their sustainable use in the textile industry.

This contributed volume provides a comprehensive understanding of synthetic protocols, characterization techniques, and current applications of iron oxide-based nanocomposite and nanoenzyme materials. It covers basic concepts and recent advancements in iron oxide-based nanocomposites and nanoenzymes, focusing on their synthesis, characterization, and functionalization for specific research applications. The different chapters in the book highlight key characterization techniques including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Transmission Electron Microscopy, among others while it also explores various applications of these materials, such as adsorption of heavy metals and dyes, gas sensors, biomedical applications, photo-catalysis, and photovoltaic sensors. This book serves as a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students working in the fields of materials science, chemistry, physics, and biotechnology.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the environmental challenges posed by emerging pollutants and the innovative strategies available for their management. Divided into 16 chapters, the book begins with an introduction to the origin and management of both inorganic and organic contaminants, offering a detailed examination of their sources and the potential risks they pose to ecosystems. It also explores current regulations and management practices aimed at mitigating their impact. In the following chapters, experts in the field cover topics such as conventional wastewater treatment methods for the removal of emerging pollutants, biotechnology-based strategies for the removal of emerging contaminants, microbial electro-deionization technologies, and algae-based bioremediation. Particular attention is given to specific remediation techniques, including phytomediated approaches, microbial fuel cells, and the novel application of microbial endophytes. Furthermore, the book explores the potential of nano-bioremediation and enzyme immobilization technologies, shedding light on their mechanism of interaction with nanomaterials and microbes for efficient treatment.

Phytoremediation consists of using plants and their associated microbes for environmental cleanup. Over the past 10 years, this treatment has gained recognition as a cost-effective, non-invasive, alternative or complimentary technology to engineering-based remediation methods. Biofortification, on the other hand, is an agricultural process that increases the uptake and accumulation of mineral nutrients in agricultural products through plant breeding, genetic engineering, or manipulation of agricultural practices.

The book covers the chemistry of various nanosponges, as well as the methods for synthesizing them and altering them chemically, as well as their characterization and uses in environmental remediation. Sensors, adaptable materials for oil clean-up in the sea, the removal of dangerous organic and inorganic pollutants from wastewater, the adsorption of various poisonous and greenhouse gases from the air, and more are just a few of the environmental uses for nanosponges. This book aims to provide broad coverage of recent research progress or up-to-date knowledge addressing various aspects in this field. With this book, we aim to provide the readers with the opportunity to learn about different facets of environmental remediation using nanosponges. Thus, this book scrutinizes the state-of-the-art research and discovery in the use of nanosponges in environmental applications, highlighting the scope to which these novel materials have been incorporated by the community.

This book provides a comprehensive overview on mechanochemistry including its history, high-energy ball milling process, equipment used and fundamentals behind the observed scientific phenomena. It also shows that mechanochemistry is highly applicable in the field of waste treatment. The text reviews 1017 studies utilizing mostly high-energy ball milling for the treatment of various types of consumer, technogenic and agricultural waste.

This book provides an overview of the typical nature-based solutions (NBS) used for flood mitigation at different scales and in different areas (e.g. from catchment to hillslope scale; from urban to coastal areas).
NBS can provide several ecosystem services, such as water regulation and water quality enhancement, and as such offer relevant technical solutions to complement typical grey infrastructures to mitigate flood hazard and water quality problems. In recent years, political awareness and interest from the scientific community have led to increasing implementation of NBS worldwide.

Microplastics and nanoplastics have been recently found in most environmental media and in living organisms, thus representing a serious health concern of yet poorly known adverse consequences. This book summarizes recent findings on the sources, behavior, transformation, toxicity and remediation of microplastics, with focus on soils, water, wastewater, air, soils, plants and corals. Advanced methods for sampling, characterization, removal and degradation of microplastics.

This book delivers an outline to graduate, undergraduate students, and researchers, as well as academicians who are working on lead toxicity with respect to remediation. It covers sources of lead contamination and its impact on human health and on prospective remediation through multi-disciplinary approaches with application of recent advanced biological technology. Lead is among the elements that have been most extensively used by man over time. This has led to extensive pollution of surface soils on the local scale, mainly associated with mining and smelting of the metal and addition of organic lead compounds to petrol. Release of lead to the atmosphere from various high-temperature processes has led to surface contamination on the regional and even global scale. In addition, plants grown on lead-rich soils incorporate lead, and thus, the concentration of lead in crop plants may be increased. Lead enters in the food chain through consumption of plant material. A high concentration of lead has been found to be harmful to vegetation. As the lead concentration increases, it adversely affects several biological parameters and eventually renders the soil barren. This edited book brings together a diverse group of researchers to address the challenges posed by global mass poisoning caused by lead contamination of soil and plants. The book sheds light on this global environmental issue and proposes solutions to contamination through multi-disciplinary approaches. This book contains three sections. The first section describes the different sources and distribution of lead in soil and plant ecosystems. The second section explains the health risks linked to lead toxicity. The third section addresses sustainable lead toxicity mitigation strategies and the potential applications of recent biological technology in providing solutions. This book is a valuable resource to students, academics, researchers, and environmental professionals doing fieldwork on lead contamination throughout the world.

This book focuses on green nanoremediation addressing aspects related to the use of nanomaterials generated through green synthesis protocols to efficiently restore polluted environs. Nanomaterials’ characteristics such as large surface area, capacity to easily reach into contaminated sites, good reactivity, and possibility of being developed to present photocatalytic activity and/or to deal with targeted substances by chemical surface modification are useful specially to perform remediation. As an alternative to conventional physicochemical methods, the green-based synthesis protocols reject the use of harmful reagents, prevent waste production, apply renewable energy source and/or materials, and consider in first place offering the smallest negative impact possible to living beings and to the ecosystem. Green synthesis in nanotechnology field involves the use of seaweeds, bacteria, cyanobacteria, yeasts, fungi, plants (living ones, biomass, extracts) and/or bio-derived products to generate the nanomaterials.

Dr. Gehan El Zokm is a professor at the Marine Chemistry Department and leader of the halogen, sulfide modeling, and surfactant groups at the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Mediterranean Sea Branch in Egypt. She earned her B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in the Chemistry Department at the Faculty of Science of Alexandria University in Alexandria, both of which concerned heavy metal chemistry (focusing on preconcentration and fractionation tools). She is a specialist in environmental chemistry in the Marine Environment Division. Her research interests are in analytical and instrumental analytical chemistry with an emphasis on fractionation techniques (metals, sulfur, phosphorus, and nitrogen) regarding their bioavailability. Sulfide-metal dynamic models’ topic has been a great concern in her publications. Statistical analyses were the most prominent features of her research, which was conducted using the most recent software packages. Her papers discuss the topics of eutrophication and pollution as well as the responses of marine biota to these two phenomena. Her study focuses on the mobility and fluxes of various parameters within marine environmental compartments. Her recent projects include natural product extraction for a variety of applications as well as method characterization (FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, EDEX, GC, HPLC, UV-Vis, and BET). Nutritional and functional food studies are highlighted in her research. Her research is also focused on water treatment and the mobility as well as fluxes of pollutants (heavy metals, phenol, hydrocarbons, and pesticides). She has 50 research papers and two books with an H-index of 17. A factorial design is applied for water treatment experiments. She reviews a lot of papers for many important publishers (Elsevier, Springer, and Taylor & Francis). She supervised and headed several projects and postgraduate students, participated in many conferences and workshops, and has several activities.

This book will address the importance of the soil management concept, vis-à-vis chemical fertilizer use on soil. Historically, soil testing has been used to quantify bio availability of plant nutrients to field grown crops. However, contemporary soil tests are based on philosophies and procedures developed several decades ago without significant changes in their general approach. For a soil test to be accurate, one needs to clearly understand the physico-chemico-physiologic processes at the soil-plant root interface, and, an understanding of soils and plant root systems as polycationic systems is essential. It is this knowledge that leads to sound prescriptive soil management practices inasmuch as nutrient bioavailability vis-à-vis chemical fertilizers application is concerned, because, of all the factors that govern sustainability of crop production, the nutrient factor is the most important, yet, it is also the least resilient to effective management. The author’s research spanning over three decades in Europe, Africa and Asia, establishes the fact that precise quantification of the nutrient’s “buffer power” holds the key to a clear understanding of the plant bioavailability of some of the most important plant nutrients in crop production, such as, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. “The Nutrient Buffer Power Concept” attempts to clearly explain the bio availability of the three plant nutrients named above on the basis of the diffusion model, as that is the process by which these three important principal plant nutrients are absorbed from the soil by the plant root. Possibly, other plant nutrients which are taken up by the plant roots by the same diffusive model, would also conform to the principles of the concept. A thorough knowledge of thermodynamic principles on the part of the researcher is an absolute pre requisite for this.