Editors: Dr. Natchimuthu Karmegam

Dr. Mani Prakash

ISBN: 978-93-94174-13-9

P. Sumithira*

Research Coordinator St. Anne’s Arts and Science College, Madhavaram, Chennai – 110, India

Human health and wildlife are both threatened by contaminants in the environment. The process of bioremediation involves reducing the levels of contaminants in the environment by using plants and associated soil microbes. A cost-effective technology for restoring the environment is phycoremediation. Phycoremediation of contaminated water should ideally not exceed one decade to reach acceptable levels of contaminants in the environment. In phycoremediation, contaminants can be stabilized or degraded in situ, or they can be removed (e.g., volatilized or extracted) using a variety of processes which are different pathways of bioremediation of heavy metals, organic contaminants in water and wastewater. There is no biological or physical process that can degrade heavy metals, which means they persist in water or soil for a long time, posing a long-term environmental threat. Static environmental conditions are the most suitable for phycoremediation. For example, restoring abandoned metal mines and removing polychlorinated biphenyls from manufacturing sites, or mitigating the impact of ongoing coal mining, reducing the impact of contaminants.

*Corresponding author; e-mail: sumithirarajkumar@gmail.com

Cite this Chapter: Sumithira, P., 2022. Pollutant removal through phycoremediation: A viable strategy. In: N. Karmegam and M. Prakash (Eds.), Status, Trends and Advances in Bioremediation. Excellent Publishers, India. pp. 49-68. doi: https://doi.org/10.20546/978-93-94174-13-9_3