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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Microbial iron mining: a nature-based solution for pollution removal and resource recovery from contaminated soils
ClearThe potential of nature-based solutions for urban soils: focus on green infrastructure and bioremediation
This review explores how nature-based solutions like green infrastructure and bioremediation can address pollution in urban soils, including contamination from microplastics. Researchers found that parks, green roofs, and constructed wetlands can improve soil quality and support microorganism communities that break down pollutants. The study suggests that working with natural systems rather than against them offers a sustainable path for cleaning up contaminated urban environments.
The Role of Bioremediation in Achieving Environmental Sustainability
This review discusses the role of bioremediation in environmental sustainability, examining how biological agents including bacteria, fungi, and plants can be used to address soil and water contamination from heavy metals, microplastics, and other persistent pollutants.
The trend of bioremediation as an effective technology in soil decontamination
Not relevant to microplastics — this review covers bioremediation techniques using bacteria, fungi, and plants to clean up soil contaminated with hydrocarbons, pesticides, and heavy metals.
Potential strategies for bioremediation of microplastic contaminated soil
Researchers reviewed emerging bioremediation strategies for removing microplastics from contaminated soil, highlighting the roles of plants, root-zone microbes, soil animals like earthworms, and specialized bacteria and fungi that can use enzymes to break down plastic polymers into harmless compounds. While genetic engineering of microbes shows promise for accelerating degradation, the review notes that real-world application at scale still requires significant research and development.
Elucidating polyethylene microplastic degradation mechanisms and metabolic pathways via iron-enhanced microbiota dynamics in marine sediments
Researchers found that adding iron to marine sediment significantly boosted the ability of natural bacteria to break down polyethylene microplastics. The iron-enhanced conditions promoted the growth of specific bacterial species that produced enzymes capable of attacking the plastic's chemical bonds. While the degradation process is still slow, this approach offers a promising environmentally friendly strategy for reducing microplastic pollution in marine environments.
Synergistic Effects of Earthworms and Plants on Chromium Removal from Acidic and Alkaline Soils: Biological Responses and Implications
Not relevant to microplastics — this study examines how earthworms and plants work together to remove chromium from contaminated soils, testing bioremediation effectiveness across different soil acidities and pollution levels.
Novel Environmental Remediation Techniques for Enhancing Public Health and Ecosystem Resilience
This review covers novel environmental remediation techniques for addressing pollution from deforestation, urbanization, and industrial activity, including microplastics, heavy metals, and organic contaminants. It surveys biological, chemical, and physical remediation approaches with potential to restore ecosystem resilience and reduce the public health burden of environmental pollution.
Plant-driven strategies for mitigating microplastic pollution in agricultural ecosystems
Researchers review how microplastics damage agricultural soils and crops — disrupting soil structure, starving plants of nutrients, and triggering oxidative stress — and explore plant- and microbe-based strategies like root-associated bacteria and biochar amendments as promising but underexplored tools for cleaning up plastic-contaminated farmland.
Exploring sustainable strategies for mitigating microplastic contamination in soil, water, and the food chain: A comprehensive analysis
Researchers reviewed how microplastics from textiles, packaging, and industrial waste enter soil, waterways, and the food chain, and assessed promising removal strategies including magnetic adsorbents, membrane filtration, and electrocoagulation. The review emphasizes that terrestrial microplastic pathways remain poorly understood compared to marine systems and calls for cost-effective, standardized methods to reduce contamination at the source.
Bioremediation: Removing Microplastics from Soil
This book chapter reviews bioremediation techniques for removing microplastics from soil, covering the origin and properties of microplastic particles and emerging biological approaches to degrade or extract them from terrestrial ecosystems. It highlights the urgent need for scalable, low-cost solutions — particularly relevant for developing nations where microplastic contamination of agricultural soils is poorly managed.
Environmental remediation approaches by nanoscale zero valent iron (nZVI) based on its reductivity: a review
This review covers how nanoscale zero-valent iron particles can be used to clean up contaminated wastewater through chemical reduction of pollutants like heavy metals and organic compounds. While not directly about microplastics, these remediation technologies are relevant because they represent advanced approaches to treating the kinds of contaminated water that often also contains microplastic pollution.
Iron Plaque: A Shield against Soil Contamination and Key to Sustainable Agriculture
This review explains how iron plaque, a natural coating that forms on the roots of wetland plants, can block heavy metals from moving from contaminated soil into crops. Iron plaque acts like a filter, binding toxic metals and preventing them from entering the food chain. While focused on heavy metals rather than microplastics directly, this research is relevant because microplastics often carry heavy metals into soil, and iron plaque could offer a natural way to reduce contamination in food crops.
Exploring the potential of biochar for the remediation of microbial communities and element cycling in microplastic-contaminated soil
Scientists found that adding biochar (a charcoal-like material made from plant waste) to soil contaminated with microplastics helped restore healthy microbial communities and nutrient cycling. The biochar reversed negative effects that microplastics had on soil chemistry, including nitrogen and phosphorus availability. This suggests biochar could be a practical tool for repairing farmland damaged by microplastic pollution.
Driving synergistic Fe-N-Plastic co-metabolism and functional microbial symbiosis via nZVI@RA for enhanced decontamination in constructed wetlands
Researchers developed a recycled aggregate-supported nano-zero valent iron material (nZVI@RA) and demonstrated that it profoundly reshapes microbial communities in constructed wetlands to enhance synergistic iron, nitrogen, and nanoplastic co-metabolism, improving simultaneous decontamination performance.
Sulfidated Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron (S-nZVI) Facilitates Remediation and Safe Crop Production in Cr(VI) and Microplastics Co-contaminated Soil
Researchers tested sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron as a way to clean up agricultural soil contaminated with both chromium and microplastics. The treatment effectively reduced toxic chromium levels and helped trap microplastics, making it safer to grow crops in the contaminated soil. The study offers a promising approach for addressing the growing problem of combined heavy metal and microplastic contamination in farmland.
Natural iron-containing minerals catalyze the degradation of polypropylene microplastics: a route to self-remediation learnt from the environment
A study found that naturally occurring iron-rich sand can catalyze the breakdown of polypropylene microplastics under sunlight, speeding up degradation far beyond what was previously expected. Because iron minerals are widespread in soils and coastal sediments globally, this suggests the environment has a greater natural capacity to degrade certain microplastics than current models assume.
Microbial Isolates in Microplastic-Polluted Soil
Researchers isolated and characterized microbial communities from microplastic-polluted soil, identifying bacteria capable of colonizing plastic surfaces and assessing their potential roles in plastic degradation and soil nutrient cycling.
Iron‐Based Catalysts for the Removal of Microplastics
This review evaluates the potential of iron-based catalysts for degrading microplastics in water through photocatalytic, Fenton, and electrocatalytic approaches. Researchers highlight the advantages of iron's abundance, low toxicity, and catalytic versatility for generating reactive oxygen species that can break down plastics. The study identifies challenges including scalability and catalyst recovery while recommending interdisciplinary collaboration to advance iron-based remediation solutions.
Microbial responses towards biochar application in potentially toxic element (PTE) contaminated soil: a critical review on effects and potential mechanisms
Researchers reviewed how biochar — a charcoal-like material made from organic waste — can protect soil microorganisms from toxic heavy metal contamination by reducing metal availability and improving soil conditions. The review found that biochar addition consistently shifted microbial communities toward healthier, more diverse compositions, offering a practical soil remediation strategy aligned with sustainability goals.
Microbial remediation of microplastic-contaminated soil, focusing on mechanisms, benefits, and research gaps
This systematic review examines microbial bioremediation of microplastic-contaminated soils, covering the sources and distribution of soil microplastics, their physicochemical interactions with soil microbiomes, and the mechanisms by which soil-dwelling bacteria and fungi degrade plastic polymers.
Remediation strategies for micro/nanoplastic pollution using magnetic nanomaterials
This review surveys recent developments in using magnetic nanomaterials, such as iron oxide nanoparticles and magnetic composites, to remove micro- and nanoplastics from water and soil. These materials can capture plastic particles through adsorption, help clump them together for removal, or even break them down, and they can be magnetically recovered for reuse. The study highlights that magnetic nanomaterials offer a promising approach for cleaning up plastic pollution, though challenges remain in scaling up for real-world use.
Efficacy of Bacterial Consortium on Microplastic Mineralization at Municipal Dumping Grounds
Researchers tested a bacterial consortium's ability to mineralize microplastics at municipal dumping grounds, addressing a gap in research focused largely on aquatic environments. The consortium demonstrated measurable degradation activity, suggesting microbe-based remediation is viable for land-based microplastic contamination.
Eco-Solutions to Microplastic Pollution: Advances in Bioremediation Technologies
This review surveys bioremediation technologies, including microbial and plant-based approaches, as potential solutions for removing microplastics from the environment. Researchers highlight promising organisms and enzymatic pathways while noting that practical, scalable applications remain in early development.
A review of nature-based solutions for resource recovery in cities
This review examines nature-based solutions for resource recovery in cities, focusing on technologies that use microorganisms and ecological processes to shift urban systems from linear resource sinks toward more circular and sustainable models.