A Review on Detection and Abatement of Heavy Metals

Heavy metal contamination is one of the major concerns in today's world. Trace elements like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, and zinc are released from natural and anthropogenic activities and considered highly hazardous. Therefore, the continuous monitoring, detection, and remediation of heavy metals in groundwater and soil are of utmost importance. In this article, the detection technologies available together with their working principles and the remediation processes that are used until today are presented. The basic abatement technologies used fall into 3 categories: chemical, biological, and physico-chemical. General approaches like isolation, immobilization, toxicity reduction, physical separation, and extraction can also be used for remediation of heavy metals. For large scale operations, chemical treatment technologies have proven to be the best option. Physico-chemical treatment technologies can exclude all the possibilities of auxiliary toxic effects that may be produced by the treating chemical agents, hence, approaching a green remediation process.