Application of nanotechnology to remediate contaminated soils

Abstract

Soil is an important part of environment which is under threat due to various types of contaminations happening since last few decades. Recovery and regeneration of soil have become a global problem. Recently nanotechnology has emerged as an efficient, cost effective, environment friendly and promising technology for soil remediation. This technology has significant potentiality to remove contaminants from environment by various approaches like adsorption, redox reaction, conversion, stabilization, etc. Various types of nanomaterials and devices are used to remove contaminants from soil. Therefore, soil could be remediated effectively by utilizing nanotechnology based concepts, processes and products which cannot be achieved from conventional methods. One of the most hazardous soil contaminants is heavy metal. Like other contaminants, heavy metals could be removed from soil using nanotechnology based approaches. The applications of nanotechnology to remove heavy metals from the contaminated soil are discussed in this chapter.