Role of Green Chemistry in Ecosystem Restoration to Achieve Environmental Sustainability

Role of Green Chemistry in Ecosystem Restoration to Achieve Environmental Sustainability deals with current challenges of environmental problems along with the approaches of environmental sustainability in alliance with green chemistry. The book shows how to lessen the impact on the environment by maintaining a balance between society, the environment, and the economy, all of which are regarded as fundamental pillars of sustainability. Furthermore, policymakers and scholars will gain insights into how to develop and explore innovative techniques for achieving sustainable development goals. This book is unique in the field of environmental sustainability, as it is based on green chemistry concepts.

• Addresses root causes of prominent environmental problems, including environmental management, water sustainability and agricultural sustainability
• Discusses recent knowledge about the concepts of environmental sustainability
• Highlights various approaches of green chemistry to achieve sustainable development goals

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Nov 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9780443152924

Book preview

Preface

Environmental deterioration around the globe has become a global problem for human civilization. Moreover, the solutions to these environmental problems require huge finance. In developing countries, apart from environmental problems, many other socioeconomic problems exist. These problems include the scarcity of clean water, degradation of air & soil quality, exponential population growth, unplanned urbanization, unemployment, and depletion of natural resources. Modern lifestyle has also created many hurdles in achieving environmental sustainability. Embracing green/environmental chemistry and sustainable approaches can significantly contribute to achieving environmental sustainability and creating a better world.

In the book Role of Green Chemistry in Ecosystem Restoration to Achieve Environmental Sustainability, attempts have been made to deal with current environmental problems using the principles of green chemistry and also to maintain harmony between society, environment, and economy which are considered basic pillars of sustainability. Moreover, by embracing green chemistry, environmental chemistry, and sustainable approaches, policymakers and researchers can gain valuable insights to develop effective strategies for achieving sustainable development goals. This comprehensive book is divided into four thought-provoking sections, each dedicated to essential aspects of environmental sustainability: environmental management, water sustainability, waste management & environment protection, and agricultural sustainability.

In the first section, that is, environmental management, valuable scientific contributions have been conveyed by the researchers on the topics, prospects of green chemistry and nanotechnology in environmental sustainability, the significance of microbial consortium and green chemistry for xenobiotics removal from the environment, the role of environmental sustainability for climate change adaptations, the importance of indigenous knowledge in achieving environmental sustainability, recent advances in sustainability science for environmental conservation, microplastic in the environment: analytical techniques and health impacts of human, etc.

In the second section, that is, water sustainability, the significant contributions are the green synthesis of nanomaterials for the removal of emerging water pollutants, application of pyrolysis techniques to produce bio-sorbents for water treatment, mycogenic synthesis of nanoparticles and their application in dye degradation, heavy metals in water: challenges and remediation, hazardous consequences of pharmaceutical wastes to groundwater, remediation strategies for the removal of microplastics from the water, application of graphene oxide for wastewater treatment, antibiotic waste in water: impact and remediation strategies, etc.

In the third section, that is, waste management and environment protection, application of agriculture waste biopolymers for soil strengthening and improvement in erosion-prone areas, bio-plastics: solution to a green environment and sustainability, resource recovery from the e-wastes through bioleaching, hydrochar from agro-wastes: a low-cost adsorbent for environmental application and sustainable food processing waste management for environmental protection are the important scientific contributions from the valued researchers.

In the fourth section, that is, agricultural sustainability, major contributions are sequestration of pesticide residues using bio-fabricated nanomaterials: challenges and prospects, nitrogen cycle and its effect on phytoplankton community structure, mercury phytovolatilization: an overview of the mechanism and mitigation, plant growth–promoting rhizobacteria for sustainable agriculture: recent progress and challenges and perspectives of crop improvement techniques and green chemistry toward sustainable agriculture.

Based on the top-class research contributions received from worldwide researchers, it can be inferred that the present book has the latest practical and theoretical aspects of the environmental crisis of the world along with recent research progresses that can reduce the environmental threats and promote sustainable management strategies. These research/review articles may also serve as the baseline information for environmental issues and their solutions. This book can be an asset for undergraduate or university students, teachers, and researchers, mostly working in areas of environmental conservationists, water science researchers, and institutes working toward sustainable development etc. Primary audiences are graduate & postgraduate students, environmental engineers, chemists, industrialists, scientists, and research scholars working on the issues related to environmental issues and their solutions for society. This book is also useful to the person working in the field of nature conservation and health sectors. This book is also helpful for people working in NGOs.

Section A

Environmental management

Outline

Chapter 1 Insights into the prospects of green chemistry and nanotechnology in environmental sustainability

Chapter 2 Importance of microbial consortia and green chemistry in the removal of xenobiotics from the environment

Chapter 3 Role of environmental sustainability for climate change adaptations

Chapter 4 The role of green chemistry and nanotechnology in developing environmental sustainability

Chapter 5 Nanobioremediation: a sustainable approach for environmental monitoring with special reference to the restoration of heavy metal contaminated soil and wastewater treatment

Chapter 6 Plants as monitors and managers of pollution

Chapter 7 Climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, the environment, and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: a review of the literature

Chapter 1

Insights into the prospects of green chemistry and nanotechnology in environmental sustainability

Rajat Goyal¹, Mohini Devi², Rupesh Kumar Gautam³ and Sumeet Gupta¹,    ¹MM College of Pharmacy, Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Mullana-Ambala, Haryana, India,    ²Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India,    ³Department of Pharmacology, Indore Institute of Pharmacy, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

The world’s population has been steadily increasing, which has reduced the number of adequate resources. The long-term viability of human civilization depends on the advancements of pollution-free technology for the supply of clean energy and environmental remediation. Several applications of nanotechnology are being looked into for their properties to accomplish, alleviate, and clean up water, land, and air contamination, and enhance the effectiveness of traditional clean-up techniques of the environment. Green chemistry and nanotechnology aim to improve the sustainability and quality of the environment by reducing negative effects on the ecosystem. Green chemistry sparks new hope for the production of safe and novel biologically active molecules to meet the petition for a disease-free environment. This chapter emphasizes the principles of green chemistry, the properties of nanotechnology, and their applications in environmental sustainability management.

Keywords

Nanotechnology; green chemistry; nanomaterials; sustainability; environment friendly; remediation

Introduction

One of the major tasks currently is to deliver sustainable development for future generations via the utilization of the green chemistry principles and concepts of green engineering to create nanomaterials and nano-products without harmful by-products, and to incorporate lifecycle thinking throughout all phases of engineering and design. Nanotechnology has a great potential to utilize novel nanomaterials for the rehabilitation of wastewater, groundwater, and surface water that are polluted by organic or inorganic solutes, ions of heavy metal, and a variety of microorganisms. The most effective strategy to diminish and abolish the release of harmful chemicals into the air, water, and soil environments is through green manufacturing (Khan, 2020). The necessary substance can be obtained by using green chemistry in the safest way (Soltys et al., 2021). Green chemistry is characterized as a contemporary branch of chemistry that develops very quickly nowadays. By employing green methodologies, we can not only avoid the use of noxious and harmful chemicals but also avoid the production of by-products (Goyal et al., 2021; El Azab et al., 2014). The usage of environmentally friendly solvents and catalysts in pharmaceutical chemistry is one area of intense interest. The utilization of nonvolatile solvents and/or green catalysts supports a wide range of organic transformations with added value, both economically and environmentally (Bhosle et al., 2012). Green chemistry intends to reimagine the production and application of chemicals used in our society to make them intrinsically safer and more effective. Green chemistry delivers a rational and intellectual framework that develops both trans-materialization and dematerialization approaches within the biochemical enterprise. Trans-materialization is the process of moving away from risky, nonrenewable resources and toward secure, reusable, or renewable materials. Dematerialization seeks to reduce the number of resources and energy used by society while preserving its wealth. The green chemistry principles and other sustainability indicators aid in identifying the prospects for modernization (Mulvihill et al., 2011; Bardos et al., 2015; Khan, 2020). Nanoscience, considered a developing field, offers a useful foundation for investigating the uses and effects of green chemistry more thoroughly and securely. In contrast to earlier remediation techniques, nano-remediation entails an overall decrease in contaminations (Bardos et al., 2015). The conception of indicators for the environment and efficiency of economic resources, environmental health hazards, natural resource basis, as well as amenities and services, economic prospects, and strategies in regulation and socio-economic framework, is all part of monitoring green growth strategies (Basiuk and Basiuk, 2015).

Basic principles of green chemistry

Green chemistry refers to the development of chemical products and procedures that reduce or eliminate the use and manufacturing of hazardous materials. The advancements in green chemistry address risks that are evident and connected to a variety of comprehensive challenges, that is, food production, energy release, climate variation, and accessibility of a safe and sufficient water supply. The formulation of the principles was motivated by the need to address decades of unintentional environmental contamination and public health effects from the production and usage of harmful chemicals (Jessop et al., 2009). The basic principles of green chemistry cover a broad area of man-made organic synthesis: designing organic synthesis processes to minimize the use of harmful chemicals/raw materials, reduce waste generation/by-products, and use solvents that are more environmentally friendly, (bio)catalysts, renewable raw materials, and methods to increase energy efficiency (Ivanković et al., 2017). These principles of green chemistry (Sharma et al., 2021; Dhage, 2013) are described in Fig. 1.1, and these condensed principles are written in the mnemonic pattern: PRODUCTIVELY (Tang et al., 2005) and are illustrated in Fig. 1.2.

Figure 1.1 The pictorial representation of twelve principles of green chemistry.

Figure 1.2 Principles of green chemistry written in the mnemonic pattern: PRODUCTIVELY.

Properties and principles of nanotechnology

Nanotechnology imparts a potential part in the improvement of the ecosystem healthcare system through the direct usage of nanomaterials in the detection, prevention, and removal of pollutants, and indirect usage through improved industrial design processes and the manufacture of environmental-friendly products (Taran et al., 2021). Nanoparticles have a dimension of at least 1–100 nm; measured within the scale of a nanometer (nm) or whose functional unit is within 3D space (Sharma et al., 2020). The usage of nanomaterials is rising day by day in cosmetics and food industries to upgrade, bioavailability, shelf life, packaging, and production (Hulla et al., 2015).

There is a constant quest for consistent and eco-friendly ways to create metallic and, metal oxide nanoparticles while reducing or even doing away with the need for dangerous compounds. To accomplish the efficient and validated performance of products and processes, nano-manufacturing standards must be established to appropriately synthesize the nanodevices and nanomaterials. These challenges must trail in the following directions:

1. Atomic-scale synthesis: To create and accumulate the processes that necessitate atomically precise standards. These comprise the work engaged in solving object integrity, dimensional metrology, precision placement, and problems during manufacturing.

2. Molecular-scale manipulation and assembly: To recognize and discourse the basic control, dimensions, and standard problems associated with the manipulation and assembling of nanomaterials by using physicochemical and optical approaches.

3. Micro-to-millimeter-scale synthesis technologies: To create the systems that need to be positioned, assembled, manipulated, and manufactured on scales ranging from nanometers to millimeters (Virkutyte and Varma, 2013).

Green nanotechnology and its applications

Nanotechnology has captivated researchers’ interest because of the high surface-to-volume ratio of nanoparticles and microscopic size. Because of these properties, nanomaterials have a broad range of applications in agricultural, environmental, and biomedical fields (Khan et al., 2022). Technologies for preventing pollution could benefit greatly from nanotechnology. For instance, house lighting based on nanotechnology could decrease energy use by 10% United States, saving $100 billion yearly and reducing carbon emissions by 200 million tonnes. (Masciangioli and Zhang, 2003). The focus of green nanotechnology is on applying nanotechnology to the creation of safer and environmentally friendly procedures and products (Dornfeld et al., 2013). Applications based on nanotechnology may have advantages including more efficiency, lower cost, lesser toxicity, complexity, and reliability. Additionally, it provides the prospect of avoiding negative consequences even before they occur (Owen and Depledge, 2005). The role of green nanotechnologies (Bharti et al., 2022) is described in Fig. 1.3.

Figure 1.3 Role of green nanotechnologies.

Green nanotechnology seeks to exploit the appealing physicochemical features of nanomaterials in a variety of green innovative applications that are both economically, and energy-effective and environmentally sustainable, with the potential to have a significant impact on a wide variety of public areas. These outcomes may provide opportunities to decrease pressure on raw materials trading on renewable energy, improve power delivery systems to be more efficient, safe, and reliable, and usage of nano-enabled construction products or unconventional water sources, resulting in healthier livelihood conditions and better ecosystem (Iavicoli et al., 2014). Green nanotechnology has two main components. The first entails nano-products that address environmental problems. In addition to being utilized in environmental technologies to clean up dirty streams, repair hazardous waste sites, and desalinate water, these green nano-products are employed to stop harm from recognized toxins. Nanomaterials provide clean and safe drinking water through nano-based processes or membrane technologies that eliminate pathogens and hazardous compounds. Also, green nano-products allow erudite sensing and monitoring tools that may detect harmful pollutants, plant diseases, and associated toxins. The creation of nanoparticles and products containing them to minimize damage to the ecosystem healthcare system constitutes the second component of green nanotechnology. The majority of nanomaterials are created by using chemical processes, which may or may not produce waste products, waste energy, or waste materials (Karn and Bergeson, 2009). Various applications of green nanotechnologies in different fields (Iavicoli et al., 2014) are elaborated in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1

Role in environmental sustainability

The phrase sustainable development has gained a lot of attention. The common area between three spheres, that is, market, society, and environment are the subject of sustainable development (Tobiszewski et al., 2010). A new approach to green chemistry implementation pays proactive attention to the eradication of chemistry’s harmful environmental impacts to support environmental sustainability (Marques and Machado, 2014). The green chemistry as a concept, which has become a fundamental developing theme, endeavors to address the scientific challenges of protecting both public health and the environment (Varma et al., 2014). The revolutionary nature of nanotechnology will have an impact on economies through newer consumer goods, production techniques, and material utilization. The creation of renewable energy sources like fuel cells and solar energy is another aspect of nanotechnology (Albrecht et al., 2006). Nanomaterials are almost everywhere because of their multifunctionality uses and characteristics. The usage of nanotechnology is growing day by day, with promising advantages to the environment, including materials for cooling down without using refrigerant, nanocatalysts for environmental remediation, thermoelectric effective photovoltaic, the lightweight composition of nanomaterials materials for vehicles, nanosensors, and mini devices to decrease the material consumption, which abolishes the prerequisite of wet chemical analysis (Khan, 2020).

Nanotechnology in water treatment

One of the most important issues of the twenty-first century is water scarcity, due to accelerated industrialization development and global population growth. An increased amount of contaminated water is produced annually, which harms the ecosystem and spreads deadly diseases to both humans and animals. There is a substantial need for clean and safe water in developing countries, particularly in rural areas. Thus it is essential and crucial to develop high-performance contaminant detection and water treatment procedures. To improve performance and efficiency, green nanotechnology has recently been used for impurity detection and water treatment. Several nanomaterials including nanotubes, quantum dots, nanosheets, and nanoparticles, have been utilized and fabricated into sensors, photocatalysts, sorbents, and membranes (Li et al., 2022). Adsorbents, catalysts, and membranes based on nanotechnology can produce environmentally beneficial methods of wastewater treatment (Tiwari et al., 2008). Particulates can be removed from contaminated water using nano absorbents like nanoclays, metal oxide nanoparticles, zeolites, polymeric adsorbents, and nanoporous carbon fibers. Nanocatalysts and redox-active nanoparticles can convert harmful organic solutions into harmless by-products. (Shapira and Youtie, 2015). Various approaches, including photocatalysis, adsorption, and nanofiltration, by using polymer membranes, nanowire membranes, ceramic membranes, zinc oxide (ZnO), magnetic nanoparticles, titanium dioxide (TiO2), and carbon nanotubes, are employed to resolve the problems involving wastewater treatment (Saha et al., 2013), for example, TiO2 nanoparticles are one of the most promising and emerging photocatalysts for the filtration of water (Amin et al., 2014).

Nanotechnology for the remediation of plastic wastes

Plastic waste has long been a critical problem on a global scale. In recent years, microplastics and nanoplastics, which are degraded from huge plastic wastes, pose a serious hazard to the ecosystem and public health. Due to their potential for biodegradability and safety, biodegradable plastics have provided an excellent solution to the growing environmental problems caused by plastic waste and ensured sustainable development. Additionally, benefiting from the amazing advancements in nanotechnology, a variety of nanomaterials with superior physicochemical properties have greatly enhanced the performance of polymers, and offer a viable technique for cleaning up plastic debris (Zheng et al., 2022; Chellasamy et al., 2022).

Renewable energy generation

One of the best ways to generate renewable energy is through the sun, that is, solar energy. The ecosystem benefits greatly from solar energy. For instance, if a distributed solar system can supply 1% of the world’s electricity needs, it might prevent the emissions of almost 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The greater area-to-volume ratio of nanoparticles should boost sun energy efficacy by revealing greater conducting surfaces to the light of the sun. By employing substances like lead-selenide, nanotechnology will also improve the efficiency of solar cells. Quantum dots, titanium dioxide, silver, and cadmium telluride are among the best nanomaterials used in cells, together with the polymer which can effectively soak up significant amounts of solar energy (Wang et al., 2008). Nanotechnology may offer attractive ways to lower the cost of solar cells made by novel processes that produce thin-film solar cells (Baxter et al., 2009; Hussein, 2015).

Conclusion

Green chemistry, over the past few decades, has demonstrated how fundamental scientific approaches can protect the environment and human well-being in an economically valuable means. Significant advancements are being achieved in various imperative scientific fields, including catalysis, the creation of safe chemicals or solvents, and growth of the renewable feedstocks. The concept of nanotechnology provides the prospect of treasuring the resolution to universal issues that affect our society. The emphasis has switched to nano-based applications after analyzing the advancements and applications of the field since nanotechnology offers a framework to research the features and characteristics of green chemistry. Green nanotechnology has the substantial prospective to contribute to resolving environmental issues and promoting sustainable development.

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Chapter 2

Importance of microbial consortia and green chemistry in the removal of xenobiotics from the environment

Dibyangana Ganguly¹, Pratik Kumar², Arti Kumari³ and Maneesh Kumar⁴,    ¹Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), New Delhi, India,    ²Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), New Delhi, India,    ³Department of Biotechnology, Patna Women’s College, Patna, Bihar, India,    ⁴Department of Biotechnology, Magadh University, Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India

Abstract

A large proportion of hazardous compounds and waste is generated during a chemical manufacturing process. The scenario has become inevitable for humans to sustain themselves and meet necessities without prejudicing the environment. Hence, the concept of green chemistry emerges as the savior of a sustainable ecological balance. Certain microbes (e.g., algae, bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, and viruses) are engaged in activities via biochemical mechanisms, which potentially degrade several toxic and xenobiotic compounds. Therefore, with this eco-friendly approach, green chemistry is not only involved in redesigning chemical processes and production by downgrading or eliminating the release of hazardous waste but also in ensuring an ecologically benign and cost-effective procedure. Green chemistry helps build a bridge between environmental sustenance, economic growth, and the manufacturing of nonhazardous products using microbes.

Keywords

Microbial consortium; green chemistry; sustainable environment; ecologically benign

Introduction

Numerous industrial and nonindustrial processes, growing urbanization, and careless waste disposal contribute to the introduction of a diverse array of hydrocarbon molecules (Devi et al., 2022). These new pollutants have indefinite impacts and represent grave dangers to the ecosystem, as well as to the environmental balance of groundwater and agricultural soils. Such pollutants are predominantly present in air, soils, aquatic habitats, and dust particles (Louati et al., 2019). They are known as xenobiotic agents because they function as foreign substances in biological systems (Ramaka et al., 2020; Iqbal et al., 2022). The word xenobiotic is mostly explained concerning the milieu of environmental toxins, consisting of enormous by-products or end products as synthetic chemicals resulting from domestic, agricultural, and industrial usage (Embrandiri et al., 2016; Atashgahi et al., 2018; Dinka, 2018). Some of the common xenobiotics include PhACs (pharmaceutical active compounds), chlorinated substances, personal care products, PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), phenolics, and various other industrial compounds (Idle and Gonzalez, 2007; Zinedine et al., 2007). The major concern among environmentalists at the moment is the vast range of dangerous chemical compounds, which may include cosmetics, dyes, pesticides, food preservatives, artificial flavors, food additives, fragrances, toxic phthalates, phenols, pigments, and other environmental contaminants causing significant harm (Štefanac et al., 2021; Devi et al., 2022). Many international policies from various countries have expressed concern about health risks and xenobiotic compound analysis. With these xenobiotic compounds, the integrated approach and interdependencies between human, animal, and plant health would increase transdisciplinary cooperation in the environment (Bronzwaer et al., 2021; Buschhardt et al., 2021). To degrade and detoxify xenobiotic compounds, many physical and chemical methods have been adopted such as adsorption, filtration, electrolysis ozonation, coagulation, and chemical precipitation (Ravindra and Haq, 2019). However, none of them proved to be effective enough to eradicate xenobiotic exposure. These treatments have often proven to be expensive (Perelo, 2010; Paul et al., 2005). This chapter focuses on the proper utilization of microbes through green chemistry in the elimination of xenobiotic compounds to minimize their negative effects on the ecosystem.

Adverse impacts of xenobiotic compounds

Xenobiotic substances are responsible for countless biological disorders. These chemical compounds accumulate as pollutants in the environment regularly and pose a significant threat to food safety and human health (Kumari and Chaudhary, 2020). Obesity, type-2 diabetes, and other endocrine disorders are all linked to hormonal imbalances (Louati et al., 2019). Some of the common outcomes of xenobiotic exposure can be impaired immunological functions, dysfunctional nervous and endocrine systems, pulmonary bronchitis, cognitive impairment disrupting behavior and development, and mutagenic impacts that may eventually lead to carcinogenesis (Bertotto et al., 2020; Dinka, 2018; Mishra et al., 2019a,b).

Bioremediation of xenobiotic compounds

Bioremediation involves the stimulation of metabolic activities in certain microorganisms to remove contaminants (oil spills, soil contamination, etc.) from the environment, by converting them into solvents like water or gases like carbon dioxide (Azubuike et al., 2016; Gilliespie and Philp, 2013). Microbial remediation has come out to be powerful and cost-effective in proficiently working against xenobiotic stress, resulting in minimal to zero generation of harmful by-products. During the degradation process, microorganisms convert harmful organic contaminants into various nitrogen and carbon compounds for consumption and sustenance of their metabolic and growth activities (Arora et al., 2018; Chen et al., 2013; Zhan et al., 2018; Mishra et al., 2021). When utilized properly, several genetically modified organisms can decrease a variety of polycyclic hydrocarbons, providing another means of safeguarding the environment from pollutants (Kang et al., 2016; Luo et al., 2022). Various ecological and physiological factors influence the rate of biodegradability by microbes, such as carbon and nitrogen sources, humidity percentage, salinity content, soil nutrients, temperature, pH level, concentration of inoculums, and so on (Bhatt et al., 2019; Wu et al., 2014). The intensity of the bioremediation process can be extensively improved by modifications in the microbial genome via genetic engineering, genome editing, and other biochemical methods. Such genomic alterations lead to the development of super bacteria or highly upgraded microbial strains, with a greater impact on xenobiotic detoxification than the original existing strains (Janssen and Stucki, 2020; Hussain et al., 2018). The basic criteria behind which the chosen bioremediation technique involves microbes is because of their diverse genetic constitution and functionality (Chen et al., 2015; Dangi et al., 2018). As per recent studies, it has been noted that microbial consortia have a better hold over xenobiotic stress reduction than pure monocultures of microbes.

Purpose of microbial consortium in bioremediation

The active degradation of toxic and xenobiotic substances has become one of the major environmental contamination issues globally. Microbial consortia are effectively involved in biodegrading hydrocarbons and xenobiotics. Microbes potentially make use of xenobiotic compounds to support their growth and various metabolic activities (Kumar et al., 2017; Sandhya et al., 2021). Many investigations have demonstrated that a single strain cannot completely degrade contaminants. Since different strains have diverse metabolic routes, bacteria with varying removal abilities are mixed, and the microbial consortium can combine the benefits of each strain to accomplish efficient pollutant degradation. Mixed microbial consortia have shown impressive substrate tolerance and contaminant degradation. Some of the existing microbial strains isolated from intestinal and natural floras include Lactobacilli, Actinobacteria, Pseudomonas, Clostridium, Salmonella, and Escherichia coli. These strains have the potential to break down toxins on their own and are appropriate for bioremediation (Bhatt et al., 2021). Members of the consortium can also indirectly improve biodegradation by secreting metabolites that induce co-metabolic degradation or metabolic cross-feeding (Kumar et al., 2022). Programmed communication between populations is a crucial prerequisite for engineering microbial consortia. Small diffusible molecules, such as quorum sensing (QS) signals, critical metabolites, or secreted enzymes, can be used to communicate. Bacteria employ QS to determine the density of their population in the wild. Each cell in the population synthesizes and secretes a tiny diffusible molecule (the QS signal), the concentration of which increases with cell density. The QS signal, at high enough concentrations, can stimulate the expression of target genes, allowing the population to respond to increased cell density (Chan et al., 2022). Industrial processes can be improved and made more regulated by using microbial consortia that are less complicated but equally effective. For instance, a significant portion of functional genes was drastically improved, and by lowering the biodiversity of a microbial population from diesel-contaminated soils, the efficiency of diesel microbial degradation was enhanced (Jung et al., 2016). Therefore, it is essential to develop trustworthy methods for reducing diversity to get optimum microbial consortia from environmental samples. Treatment of mixed pollutants has shown to benefit greatly from microbe-assisted degradation of xenobiotic compounds. Numerous biotic or abiotic elements may impact the degradation pathway; however various in situ or ex-situ bioremediation strategies are utilized to break down toxins all over the world (Kumar and Akhtar, 2019; Prosekov et al., 2015; Tak et al., 2022). The majority of bioremediation activities occur in aerobic settings; however anaerobic conditions are appropriate for resistant molecules. The most capable and well-known bacteria that contribute substantial biodegradation activities are Aeromonas, Alcaligenes, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium, Candida, Cellulosimicrobium, Flavobacterium, Methanospirillum, Microbacterium, Micrococcus, Penicillium, Trichoderma, Sphingobium, Streptomyces, Rhodococcus, and Rhodotorula. From xenobiotic pollutants present in the soil, they extract carbon or nitrogen as nutrients (Kumar et al., 2018a,b; Sandhya et al., 2021). Some of the microbes have been listed (Table 2.1), with their active involvement in the degradation of harmful xenobiotics.

Table 2.1

Concept of green chemistry

Green chemistry emphasizes the idea that contributors must adopt an approach to decrease environmental effects through the conscious design of chemical products, which not only includes the procurement of raw materials and how industrial and consumer goods are manufactured and utilized, but also how these materials and goods may be reused, repurposed, or up-cycled. It can help advance closed-loop economies while also serving as a role model for innovation in their respective chemistry sub-disciplines on a basic level (Ganesh et al., 2021). The 12 principles of green chemistry are design guidelines that might assist chemists in achieving the deliberate objective of sustainability as focused in Fig. 2.1.

Figure 2.1 Twelve principles of green chemistry.

Careful chemical synthesis planning and molecular design are hallmarks of green chemistry, which aim to minimize unfavorable effects. Synergies, not trade-offs, may be achieved via good design (Anastas and Eghbali,