About the Book
Soil pollution is the presence of any harmful liquid, solid or sludge material, chemical, substance or object in soil in high enough concentrations that may cause adverse effects to human health and ecosystem. Soil pollution mainly develops through man-made activities like accidental spill and leakage of chemicals; foundry, manufacturing, mining, construction, agriculture and transportation activities and dumping of household, medical and industrial wastes in landfills leading to groundwater contamination and generation of toxic gases. Everyone including humans, plants, animals and ecosystem coming in close contact with contaminated soil is susceptible to soil pollution. A number of in situ and ex situ techniques has been developed to decontaminate polluted soils. These methods include removal of contaminated soil and deposit it in landfills or to incinerate it. Various soil washing techniques have been developed for removal of heavy metals including physical and chemical methods. However, none of these methods is ideal for remediating contaminated soils and often, more than one method is applied to get the desired result. Phytoremediation is a latest alternate technology developed for treatment of soil contaminated with organic and inorganic contaminants. Phytoremediation makes use of living green plants and associated soil microbes for in situ removal, reduction or containment of toxic effects or concentrations of range of contaminants including metals, pesticides, solvents, explosives, crude oil, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and landfill leachates in soils, sludges, sediments, surface water and groundwater. With the above background, the topics covered in this volume include: o Soil pollution and phytoremediation o Major sources and types of soil pollutants o Study of factors and environmental monitoring of urban soils contamination o Effect of soil amendments on the mobility and availability of potentially toxic trace elements in phytoremediated contaminated soils o Behaviour of heavy metals in soils-distribution and interaction with soil constituents o An overview of phytoremediation o Phytoremediation of heavy metals by catharanthus roseus linn o Phytoremediation and bioremediation of contaminated soils o Phytoremediation for soil health improvement o Phytoremediation of abandoned mining areas using native plant species o Electrokinetic and electrochemical remediation of contaminated soils o Levels assessment and origin study of PAHs in organisms and sediments o Adsorption of heavy metal cations on bentonite and bentonite/iron oxide composite o Behaviour of flazasul furon and tribenuron-methyl on soil biology o Phytoremediation and bioremediation of Pb, Cu, Hg, Cd, Ni and Zn o Eco-friendly techniques for heavy metal toxicity removal from polluted soil and water The present volume contains 16 articles from 48 researchers, academicians and professionals representing 12 nations, namely Bulgaria, China, Ecuador, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Morocco, Russia, Slovak, Spain and Syria giving an overview of the various research activities being taken in different parts of the world on Soil Pollution and Phytoremediation.
About the Author :
Dr. Bhola Ram Gurjar is a Professor in Civil (Environmental Engineering) and Head of Centre for Transportation Systems (CTRANS) at India's premier technological institution, Indian Institute of Technology - IIT Roorkee. He holds a PhD in the area of Environmental Risk Analysis from India's premier technological institution I.I.T. Delhi followed by Postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute in Mainz (Germany). He has about 25 years' progressive professional experience in industry, teaching, training, research, and consultancy. Professor Gurjar has (co)authored / (co)edited nine books and 140 publications in total. He has received several awards and fellowships including the prestigious Advanced Postdoctoral Research Fellowship of the Max Planck Society (Germany) (2002-2005) and UKIERI Grant to visit Univ. of Surrey (U.K.) (Dec. 2012-Jan. 2013). Based on his outstanding research work at the MPIC - Mainz, the Scientific Steering Committee of the global change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training (START), Washington, D.C., U.S.A., honored him with the 2004 START Young Scientist Award. He has received the American Society of Civil Engineers' State of the Art of Civil Engineering Award for the year 2014 on the co-edited book "Climate Change Modeling, Mitigation, and Adaptation". He is also co-recipient of The Nawab Zain Yar Jung Bahadur Memorial Medal (best research paper award) from Environmental Engineering Division of The Institution of Engineers (India), Kolkata, for the year 1995-96. The Institution of Engineers (India)'s National Design and Research Forum (NDRF) has awarded him the National Design Award for Environmental Engineering 2011. Prof. Gurjar is fellow and life member of several professional bodies and organizations and serves them actively. For example, Prof. Gurjar has served the Roorkee Local Centre of The Institution of Engineers (India) as Honorary Secretary and Chairman from 2010-2012 and 2012-2014, respectively. Recently, recognizing his significant contribution in the discipline of Environmental Engineering, the Environmental Division Board of the Institution of Engineers (India) has conferred on him the Award of Eminent Environmental Engineer during the Inaugural Session of 31st National Convention of Environmental Engineers held on 6th November, 2015 in Chandigarh, India. He has also received The Institution of Engineers (India) Uttarakhand State Centre's Eminent Engineers Award - 2014. The award was conferred by the Hon. Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on 3rd February 2016 in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. Dr. Gurjar is among the leading academics and researchers who have worked extensively in the area of environmental science and engineering specially focused on air and water pollution, and environmental quality and health risk assessment, which is reflected in his several highly cited research papers published on these themes.
