Books/Book Chapters/Edited Books

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.168.24.11:4000/handle/123456789/237

Browse

Filters

2024 - 20267

Settings

Start date: 2024Subject: search.filters.subject.Heavy metals

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Impact of Heavy Metals on Plant Health: Exploring Toxicity and Oxidative Stress
    (Book Rivers, 2026) Taiba Saeed, Durdana Yasin, Asad Ullah
    Heavy metals, naturally occurring elements with high atomic weight and density, pose significant threats to plant health when present in elevated concentrations. This chapter provides the information on the intricate relationship between heavy metals and plants, highlighting the dual challenges of toxicity and oxidative stress. Plants are routinely exposed to heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), Copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), and chromium (Cr) through contaminated soil and water sources. These metals, when absorbed by plant roots, can translocate to aerial parts, disrupting physiological and biochemical processes. Heavy metal toxicity manifests in plants through a variety of detrimental effects, including inhibition of photosynthesis, impaired nutrient uptake, and disruption of cellular structures. A primary consequence of heavy metal exposure is the induction of oxidative stress, a state characterized by the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide radicals, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radicals. While ROS are naturally generated in plants during metabolic processes, their levels are tightly regulated by antioxidant defense mechanisms. However, heavy metals disrupt this balance, leading to an excessive accumulation of ROS. This oxidative burst can damage cellular components, including lipids proteins, and DNA, thereby exacerbating the toxic effects of heavy metals. Plants have evolved complex defense strategies to mitigate heavy metal-induced oxidative stress. These include the synthesis of metal-binding proteins like phytochelatins and metallothioneins, the activation of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidases, and the upregulation of non-enzymatic antioxidants like ascorbate and glutathione. Despite these adaptive responses, the efficiency of these mechanisms varies among plant species and is often insufficient to fully counteract heavy metal toxicity under severe contamination.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination in Polymeric Disposable Items
    (Book Rivers, 2026) Nafees Ahmad, Arshad Iqbal, Iqbal Azad, Naseem Ahmad
    Exposure to heavy metals in our environment continues to pose considerable risks to both human and animal health. The main aim of this study was to monitor the concentrations of heavy metals in leachates from different brands of locally made plastic disposable items commonly used across different districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. The study was carried out under various simulated conditions to determine heavy metal concentrations in accordance with BIS, IP, and other international guidelines using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The results showed that the presence of metals was in the range of 0.21 -1.12, 0.003-0.118, 0.-1.099, 0.120- 1.111, 0.011-0.900, 0.067-0.211, and 0-0.19 (ppm) for Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn, Cr, Co, and Mn, respectively. A comparison of the mean concentrations of these metals analyzed in different samples showed the following pattern. Ni> Pb> Zn> Mn> Cr> Co> Cd.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Quantum Catalysis for the Removal and Recovery of Metal Ions in Textile Effluents
    (Springer, Singapore, 2026) Sana Nisar, Naseem Ahmad, Arshad Iqbal, Nafees Ahmad
    Quantum catalysis has emerged as an adapting approach for the removal and recovery of metal ions from textile effluents, addressing both environmental pollution and resource recovery challenges. The excellent properties of quantum nanomaterial, include high surface area, quantum confinement effects, and tunable electronic structures. Quantum catalysts exhibit exceptional efficiency in adsorbing, reducing, and recovering toxic metal ions like chromium, cadmium, lead and arsenic from wastewater. Advanced quantum catalytic systems, including quantum dots, single-atom catalysts, and hybrid nanocomposites, facilitate the degradation of a wide range of contaminants and the simultaneous recovery of valuable metal ions through redox reactions and photocatalytic mechanisms. This chapter highlights the innovative potential of quantum catalysis in the removal of metal ions from textile effluent, emphasizing its dual role in environmental remediation and sustainable resource utilization. By integrating cutting-edge nanotechnology with wastewater management, quantum catalysis offers a promising pathway to mitigate the environmental impact of the textile industry while promoting circular economy principles.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Parthenium hysterophorus: From Weed to Eco-friendly Solution for Biogas and Waste Water Treatment
    (Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 2026) Shazia Qamar , Syed Khalida Izhar, Uzma Afaq
    Parthenium hysterophorus L. (Asteraceae), also known as carrot grass or congress grass, is one of the most prolific invasive weeds, endangering agricultural landscapes and natural ecosystems. This notorious plant has recently been shown to have a wide range of innovative uses, such as the elimination of aquatic weeds and the removal of dye and heavy metals from contaminated water. P. hysterophorus has been used for nano-catalytic gasification, which uses Co and Ni as nanocatalysts to produce biofuels (biogas, biodiesel, and charcoal). These weeds contain minimum nutritional values but can be used effectively in production of biofuels. It is also added to cattle dung as an additive to produce biogas, with the prevalence of this weed and the vast number of cattle in India, P. hysterophorus should be given careful consideration as a substrate for anaerobic digestion-based biogas production. Heavy metal pollution of the environment is becoming a worldwide problem. Wastewater contaminated by heavy metals such as chromium, nickel and cadmium need to be treated using affordable alternative technologies or absorbents, particularly in developing countries like India. P. hysterophorus is found to be an effective adsorbent of Cr, Ni and Cd. It is used to generate activated carbon, which is a very effective adsorbent material produced through chemical activation using concentrated H2SO4. The concerns with industrial wastewater contamination have led to an increase in the use of activated carbon made from P. hysterophorus for wastewater treatment.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Magnetic Nanocomposites and Their Applications in the Removal of Toxic Contaminants from Wastewater
    (Springer, Singapore, 2026) Naseem Ahmad, Saimah Khan, Sanjana Yadav, Umme Salma, Nafish Fatima, Kashif Raees, Mohammad Shahadat, Nafees Ahmad
    The growing presence of water contaminants, such as organic pollutants and heavy metals, poses substantial environmental, and public health risks due to their toxicity and carcinogenic nature. Magnetic nanocomposites have emerged as effective materials for wastewater treatment, offering advantages like high surface area, magnetic responsiveness, and versatile functionalization capabilities. This chapter explores the synthesis techniques, such as co-precipitation, sol–gel, and green synthesis approaches, emphasizing their role in tailoring nanocomposites for enhanced performance and applications of magnetic nanocomposites in removing toxic contaminants from wastewater. Adsorption, photocatalytic degradation, and ion-exchange mechanisms are also highlighted in this chapter mentioning their effectiveness in removing toxic contaminants. Furthermore, it addresses the challenges associated with their practical application, including material stability, reusability, and potential environmental risks.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Mitigation of Metal Toxicity in Plants Using Silver Nanoparticles
    (Springer Nature, 2024) Kulsum Hashmi, Tahmeena Khan, Saman Raza, Seema Joshi
    Certain metals like Ca, Mg, Cu, and Fe are essential for plant growth while several others, like As, Cd, and Pb are not; the presence of these metals in soilc above a certain threshold concentration is toxic to plants. They lead to several cellular and structural changes in the plants by increasing oxidative stress and modifications in certain metabolic pathways. The plant in turn responds to this stress by several methods like increasing the production of antioxidants and other enzymes. Metal toxicity hampers water uptake, nutrient assimilation and consequently plant growth. As a result, there is a decrease in plant productivity as well as quality, leading to financial loss for the farmers and health problems for the consumers. Several methods are used for the remediation of this toxicity in the soil and the plants, including leaching, use of chelators, phytoremediation, etc. However, most of these techniques have drawbacks like being expensive, hazardous to the environment, unsuitable for varied use and not being target specific. In recent years, nanotechnology has emerged as a safe and effective tool with many desirable outcomes. Its use is being explored in agriculture as well, with nanoparticles being employed in soil fertilizers, disease management and removal of toxins. This chapter describes in detail, the effect of metal toxicity in plants and the use of nanoparticles, for its remediation. AgNPs are of particular interest here, owing to their beneficial effects on plants which have been widely investigated.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Amelioration in Water Quality of Aquatic Ecosystems Contaminated with Inorganic Pollutants: Applications of Promising Phytoremediation Technique
    (Academic Publishers & Distributers, 2024) Monowar Alam Khalid
    Water the elixir of life has a unique role in sustaining the life of on earth. Increase in water contamination with inorganic pollutants has become a serious concern nowadays due to the increasing unsustainable developmental activities. Production processes carried at high energy inputs, discharge of untreated municipal and industrial wastewater coupled with runoff from agricultural fields leads to the build-up of toxic inorganic pollutants like heavy metals and reactive nitrogenous species (RNS) into the water bodies. Intake of water contaminated with heavy metals and nitrogenous ions (nitrate, nitrite and ammonium) by humans and other life forms causes disruption of numerous metabolic activities which can lead to neurological, cardiovascular, renal and other ailments. Of the technologies available for remediating contaminated water, phytoremediation using aquatic plants is promising because of its low cost compared to conventional physical or chemical methods, fewer negative effects and suitability for removal of pollutants on a large scale. Water remediation by macrophytes can be greatly enhanced by selection of appropriate plant species which is based on the types of elements to be remediated, the geographic location, microclimate, hydrologic conditions, known accumulation capacities of the species etc. Phytoremediation is an economical, eco-friendly and aesthetically pleasing technology that makes the use of plant systems to remove and/or detoxify pollutants from the water environment.