Bioremediation of Heavy Metals in Wastewaters: A Concise Review

Abstract

Wastewater is contaminated by heavy metals that come naturally and anthropogenically from the surrounding environments. In the latest years, the use of wastewater in agriculture has increased due to the ability of soil to the inherent remedy fundamental and micronutrient contents. Therefore, the need to eliminate heavy metals from wastewater has increased. Previous remediation methods have several limitations such as high cost and producing large quantities of hazardous wastes that cause secondary sources of pollution. Thus, it is recommended to use green technology with low economic cost and environmentally friendly to remediate heavy metals from wastewater before its use in agriculture. In this regard, the latest advances in microbial biotechnology revealed the effective role of fungi, which are considered an essential group of microorganisms that have several environmental properties including their ability to remediate these metals from wastewater via bioaccumulation and biosorption. The advantages of this method are green technology and environmental acceptance due to its non-interference in the ecosystem and economy.