Nanobiotechnology as a Prospective Approach for Safe Environmental Remediation – a Review

Nanotechnology is an emerging field that covers a wide range of applications. Different types of nanomaterials are used in different sectors like biology, medicine, agriculture, pharmacy etc. The challenging task of the 21 Century is to clean up the contaminants of the environment by ecofriendly, green and sustainable and economically adoptable technologies. The need for such technologies is more pronounced in developing nations as clean up processes cost heavily and therefore are ignored but the ‘development wheel’ is kept going. This trend should be interrupted through innovative and progressive methodologies which otherwise would be detrimental for the very existence of life. Remediation of contaminated water/soil/gases using nanoparticles is one of the several potential applications with considerable benefits. The review focuses on different types of biomaterials and their adsorptive capacities when used on a nano scale. Majority of the biomaterials (plants, animals and microbes) that have been tested for environmental clean up have yielded very good results. The biopolymers like feathers and egg shells generated in huge quantities from poultry industry are found to be of significant use in environmental remediation.