Hexavalent Chromium Pollution and its Sustainable Management through Bioremediation

Rapid economic development leads to environmental pollution with widespread pollutants including heavy metals, chemical particulates, untreated industrial sewage, and microplastics. Chromium production and its application had upsurged from past few decades and at present it had stretched up to 41 million metric tons globally. Chromium is one of the most mutagenic and carcinogenic pollutant, exposure to this heavy metal pollutants leads to respiratory, reproductive, cardiovascular diseases in humans and other harmful effects on plants and animals. Conventional methods for the treatment of hexavalent chromium from the environment includes ion-exchange, adsorption, solvent extraction, coagulation, electrodialysis and chemical precipitation. These methods are labor intensive, costly, and simultaneously release toxic components to the environment. Alternatively, bioremediation is one of the most effective biological processes which utilizes native microorganisms and plants to remove toxic metal pollutants from the polluted habitats. Bioremediation offers a sustainable technology for the management of heavy metal pollutants released from various mining and mineral processing industries and anthropogenic activities. This review gives a brief idea of hexavalent chromium pollution, its harmful effect on environment and humans, bioremediation through the application of native microorganisms and plants and describes the bioremediation method as a significant role for the sustainable management of pollutants.