Review Article

Review on Microbial remediation of Heavy metals from E-waste

Pradeepa. R1* Senthil kumar. P1 and Kavitha K.K2

: pradeepabt@gmail.com

Published 30-03-2017

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.22573/spg.ijals.017.s12200076

ABSTRACT

E-waste is an end of the life span of electric or electronic appliances which contain the complex heavy metals. It is causing severe health concerns for millions of people around the world, mostly in the developing nations of India, Africa, Europe, etc. More of these wastes are ending up in dumping yards and recycling centers, cause a new challenge to the environment. In general electronic gadgets are intended to make our lives happier and simpler, but their toxicity, removal and recycling becomes a health horrendous. Many research papers have been reported on microbial remediation of heavy metals present in E-waste. The pioneer work was reported on 1998, bio-dissolution of spent nickel batteries using Thiobacillus ferroxidans, which is the first step to recycle and discarded batteries by using microbes as eco-friendly method. This review paper provides an insight in to the bioremediation of heavy metals from E-waste by potential microorganisms, in an eco-friendly way and provide pathway for current researchers.

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^1*&1 Research scholar, Department of Environmental and Herbal Science, Tamil University, Thanjavur- 613010

²Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Herbal Science, Tamil University, Thanjavur- 613010

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed/E-Mail: pradeepabt@gmail.com

Received: Mar 2017 / Accepted:  Mar 2017/ Published: Mar 2017

ABSTRACT: E-waste is an end of the life span of electric or electronic appliances which contain the complex heavy metals. It is causing severe health concerns for millions of people around the world, mostly in the developing nations of India, Africa, Europe, etc. More of these wastes are ending up in dumping yards and recycling centers, cause a new challenge to the environment. In general electronic gadgets are intended to make our lives happier and simpler, but their toxicity, removal and recycling becomes a health horrendous. Many research papers have been reported on microbial remediation of heavy metals present in E-waste. The pioneer work was reported on 1998, bio-dissolution of spent nickel batteries using Thiobacillus ferroxidans, which is the first step to recycle and discarded batteries by using microbes as eco-friendly method.  This review paper provides an insight in to the bioremediation of heavy metals from E-waste by potential microorganisms, in an eco-friendly way and provide pathway for current researchers.

Keywords: E-waste, Bio remediation, Heavy metals and minerals.

INTRODUCTION

The revolution brought by information and communication in twentieth century brought enormous changes in the way we organize our lives, our economies, industries and institutions (Devendra S Verma, 2014). In most of the developing and under-developed countries, e-waste is dumped directly into the soil without any treatment; often due to weak environmental regulations and financial problems. For profitable recovery of materials and sustainable environment, the efficient recycling of electronic waste is very necessary, and is still regarded as a major challenge for today’s society (Shubham Gupta, 2014).

According to Centre of Science and Environment’s latest reports, every year our country is producing 3, 50,000 tonnes of e-waste, 5,0000 tonnes of electronic waste is imported but only 19000 tonnes is rejected. Out of total e-waste 10 states contribute about 70% of e-waste, leading states are- Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh.  E-waste is highly complex to handle due to its composition. It is made up of multiple components some of which contain toxic substances that have an adverse impact on human health and environment if not handled properly and mixed with municipal waste.

Electronic wastes can cause widespread environmental damage due to the use of toxic materials in the manufacture of electronic goods (Mehra, 2004). Hazardous materials in one form or the other are present in such wastes primarily consisting of electronic equipment. Even though it is hardly known, E-waste contains toxic substances such as Lead and Cadmium in circuit boards, lead oxide and Cadmium in monitor Cathode Ray Tubes , cables and polyvinyl chloride cable insulation that releases highly toxic dioxins and furans when burned to recover Copper from the wires.

All electronic equipment contains printed circuit boards which are dangerous because of their content of lead. The microorganisms for remediation of complex or co-contaminated system, they must possess tolerance and detoxification abilities towards different types of pollutants. These properties help them prolong and bioremediation in complex and mixed polluted systems like e-waste.

Microbes possessing such novel properties can be either isolated from natural contaminated sources (soil contaminated with e-waste or leachate from e-waste landfill sites), or obtained through engineering processes. Such microbes, individually or as consortia, can be used for decontamination of e-waste. Certain microorganisms with their unique tolerance mechanisms are able to grow and degrade or transform toxicants into nontoxic forms. (Amrik Bhattacharya, 2016).

Categories of E-waste

It can be categories on the basis of hazardous and non- hazardous waste and more than one thousands e- waste comes under this category (Wath et al., 2010). According to the European Union electrical and electronic equipment available on the market have divided e-waste types into ten categories such as Large household Appliances, Small household appliances, IT and telecommunications ,Equipment, Consumer equipment, Light equipment, Electrical and electronic tools, Toys, leisure, and sports, Equipment, Medical devices, Monitoring and control Instruments, Automatic dispensers.

Techniques used to handle E-waste

There are basically four ways in which e-waste has been treated till date. But none has been found to be fully satisfactory. The first and most common one has been storing e-wastes in landfills, but it is replete with all the dangers of leaching.  The hazardous effects are worse in the older or less stringently maintained landfills or dumpsites. The second method commonly used has been to incinerate or burn the goods, but this process releases heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury into the atmosphere. The third and the fourth methods are reusing and recycling of E-wastes. They have been preferable because they increase the lifespan of the products and therefore imply less waste over time. These are the four different and common method used to handle the waste all over the world. Each method has its own drawbacks and limitations. (Bikashdev Chhura, et al., 2015). To facilitate take the edge off e-waste problems, there are investigations in term of the quantity, character and potential environmental and human health impacts of e-waste and broad research into e-waste management.

              Microbial Remediation of Heavy metals present in E-waste

Ar-Arsenic,Pb- Lead, Cd-Cadmium,Cr- Chromium, U-Uranium, Ni- Nickel, Cu-Copper, Al-Alumnium, Zn-Znic,  Sn-, Co-cobalt, Mn-Manganese, Ag-Silver, Fe-Ferrous, Pt-Platinum, Li-Lithium, Au- Gold

CONCLUSION

E-Waste containing toxic metals which need to be remediated efficiently from contaminated surroundings.  To reduce the toxic metals effect on environment and living beings. Biological methods one of the potential methods to minimize the toxicity associated with e-waste contaminants in sustainable way. So we need to spread the awareness of proper handling of E-waste such as reduce, reuse and safe recycle process.

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CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

“The authors declare no conflict of interest”.

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