Microbial-Based Heavy Metal Bioremediation: Toxicity and Eco-Friendly Approaches to Heavy Metal Decontamination

Abstract

There are several industrial processes in which heavy metals are used, including but not limited to chrome plating and tanning. Amongst the most toxic heavy metals to human health are arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, copper, nickel, and mercury. The aforementioned toxic metals possess the ability to cause contamination upon their release into the environment. Humans and aquatic and terrestrial animals are at risk from heavy metals in water and soil. Heavy metal toxicity has the potential to result in several health complications, such as renal and hepatic impairment, dermatological afflictions, cognitive lethargy, and potentially oncogenic manifestations. The removal of heavy metals from wastewater and soil can be accomplished using a variety of conventional methods, such as membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, chemical reduction, and adsorption. These methods have several disadvantages, such as generating an abundance of secondary pollutants, and entail significantly higher costs in comparison to biological methods. Conversely, eco-friendly techniques based on microbes have numerous advantages. This review provides a comprehensive overview of biological processes that remove heavy metal ions, both metabolically dependent and metabolically independent. Additionally, we also focused on the source and toxicity of these heavy metals. This study is expected to be particularly beneficial for the development of biological heavy metal treatment systems for soil and water.

Using Fungi in Artificial Microbial Consortia to Solve Bioremediation Problems

“…Bioremediation of heavy metals by microorganisms includes the following main mechanisms: adsorption, bioaccumulation, biotransformation and bioleaching [ 45 ]. Microbial consortia of different compositions are characterized by different abilities to remove heavy metals.…”

“…A. terreus, Talaromyces islandicus, Neurospora crassa, Aspergillus flavus [44] Pb(II)-20.5-293.23 mg/L, Ni(II)-12.1-164.7 mg/L, inoculum 8%, pH 5.0, 30 Bioremediation of heavy metals by microorganisms includes the following main mechanisms: adsorption, bioaccumulation, biotransformation and bioleaching [45]. Microbial consortia of different compositions are characterized by different abilities to remove heavy metals.…”

Major and Trace Elements in Soils from an Industrial Area in the Lower Danube Basin: Levels, Transfer to Crops (Wheat, Corn, Sunflower) and Health Risk

“…𝑛 (7) where Ci refers to the concentration of the metal i in soil, ERMi is the value at which the impact on living organisms of the metal is medium, and n is the number of elements. mERMQ is classified into four grades: ≤0.1 -low risk, probability of toxicity is 9 %, 0.,1-0.5 -medium risk, probability of toxicity is 21 %, 0.5-1.5 -high risk, probability of toxicity is 49 % și >1,5 -very high risk, probability of toxicity is 76 % [El-Alfy, M.A.…”

Studying the Effectiveness of Phytoremediation in the Purification of Soils Contaminated with Heavy Metals

“…On the other hand, the exorbitant costs of physical and chemical methods have led to efforts to find cheaper methods. Using the usual physical and chemical treatment methods in cases where the concentration of heavy metals is low, they are not economical and affordable and may even cause the production of secondary effluents, which in turn will lead to more treatment problems (Jacob et al, 2018;Zhou et al, 2023). Therefore, researchers have established a new method using the potential of plants to remove soil pollution and preserve this national capital.…”