Nanobioremediation: An emerging approach for a cleaner environment

Global environmental issues have emerged owing to rapid industrialization and urbanization. Ecological imbalance and pollution have raised serious concerns and, thus, led to adoption of better anthropogenic practices and environmental cleanup technologies including physical, chemical, and biological methods. Current treatment practices, although efficient, have made remediation processes complex. Among existing technologies, bioremediation and biotransformation are prominently being used for heavy metal remediation of soil and water, whereas biodegradation is used for toxic pollutants like polyaromatic insecticides, pesticides, plasticizers, and petroleum hydrocarbons. This chapter overviews nanotechnologybased alternative treatment strategies for efficient and sustainable bioremediation and biodegradation. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of current technologies as well as comments on the future directions in this field.