Critical analysis of sustainable ways of removing insidious pollutants from the environment through phytoremediation techniques

ABSTRACT

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are poisonous, environmentally harmful, volatile organic pollutants deposited worldwide due to atmospheric cycling. POPs are increasingly gaining attention on a global scale because of their persistence. Humans experience endocrine and reproductive issues and cancer as a result of it. The ecological consequences of POPs highlight the interdependence of the ecosystem and the need for global pollution control to protect biodiversity and the ecosystem's health. While several effective management strategies exist, the most practical and environmentally friendly method is to remove POPs using various phytoremediation techniques and numerous soil-based bacterial-aided methods. This review analyzed the kinetic analysis and organic mechanism in each phytoremediation technique. A literature survey was also conducted to determine the advancements in this area for efficiently removing POPs. This review includes a graphical abstract comparing the Scopus publications on this topic and a summary of the existing information on several phytoremediation approaches for reducing the impact of POPs in the soil. It focuses on current research and prospects to enhance phytoremediation's effectiveness in POP dissipation. Continued research and collaboration are essential to significantly advance POP removal and environmental remediation and improve global efforts to address environmental contamination.

KEYWORDS:

• Persistent organic pollutants
• bioaccumulation
• biomagnification
• hyperaccumulator
• Stockholm Convention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

S. Lekshmi

S. Lekshmi is currently working as a Research Scholar at, Department of Chemistry, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri. She completed her master's degree from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala. Her research interests include Phytoremediation, green synthesis, nano phytoremediation, and material science.

A. Ardra Lekshmi

A. Ardra Lekshmi is currently working as a Research Scholar at, Department of Chemistry, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri. She completed her master's degree from Amrita University, Coimbatore. Her research interests include environmental nanotechnology, green synthesis of nanomaterials, and wastewater treatment.

Deepthi Achuthavarier

Deepthi Achuthavarier currently working as the Senior Contract Program Manager and Contract Team Lead at NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) in the Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) Modelling Program Division through IBSS Corp. In this role, I provide technical and management support to Federal Program Managers in planning, prioritizing, coordinating, and managing programs and projects on operational numerical weather and climate model development and forecasting. Before joining the OSTI, she worked as a Scientist at the NOAA Climate Prediction Centre (CPC), and at the NASA GSFC's Global Modelling and Assimilation Office (GMAO), conducted research in climate variability in sub-seasonal to decadal timescales, including tropical intraseasonal oscillations, South Asian monsoons and Pacific Decadal Oscillation using global general circulation models and statistical methods.

S. Smitha Chandran

S. Smitha Chandran currently serves as an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Amrita School of Physical Sciences, Amritapuri. She received her Master's degree in Environmental Sciences and management and M. Phil. in Environmental Sciences and Management both in First rank from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. She completed her Ph.D. in Environmental Science from the same University in 2010. She worked as a guest faculty for 6 years at the School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. Her current research interests include Sustainable Nanotechnology, Green Synthesis of Nanomaterials, Wastewater Treatment, Phytoremediation, Bioremediation, water and wastewater quality analysis. She has several International and National journal publications, and many International and National Conference publications to her credit.