Chapter 17 - Phytogenic-mediated nanoparticles for the management of water pollution

Abstract

Water pollution being a global issue is getting worse day by day. Direct disposal of wastewater containing organic and inorganic, dissolved and suspended pollutants may pose serious threats to the terrestrial and aquatic life, thus disturbing the natural ecosystem. Therefore, the treatment of such hazardous wastewater is of utmost necessity. In this context, several physicochemical and biological treatment technologies of wastewater are in progress worldwide. However, some of these conventional wastewater treatment technologies proved to be expensive, time-consuming with maximum manpower and infrastructure requirement with minimum treatment efficiency. Nanotechnology appears as an emergent and diverse field for the effective removal of contaminants from wastewater. Nanomaterials are excellent adsorbents and catalysts due to their larger specific surface areas and high reactive nature. Moreover, the flexibility of nanomaterials in solution is high and even a small number of nanomaterials is enough to degrade pollutants present in wastewater. Nanoparticles can be synthesized through chemical and biological routes. However, among biological methods, “green synthesis/phytogenic-mediated synthesis of nanoparticles” using plants and plant products is an efficient, cost-effective, safe, and environment-friendly approach that does not have high pressure, temperature, and energy requirements as well as does not produce toxic substances. Besides, a huge variety of plants are easily accessible to produce nanoparticles on a large scale