title: Micelles as Soil and Water Decontamination Agents.
abstract: Contaminated soil and water pose a serious threat to human health and ecosystem. For the treatment of industrial effluents or minimizing their detrimental effects, preventive and remedial approaches must be adopted prior to the occurrence of any severe environmental, health, or safety hazard. Conventional treatment methods of wastewater are insufficient, complicated, and expensive. Therefore, a method that could use environmentally friendly surfactants for the simultaneous removal of both organic and inorganic contaminants from wastewater is deemed a smart approach. Surfactants containing potential donor ligands can coordinate with metal ions, and thus such compounds can be used for the removal of toxic metals and organometallic compounds from aqueous systems. Surfactants form host-guest complexes with the hydrophobic contaminants of water and soil by a mechanism involving the encapsulation of hydrophobes into the self-assembled aggregates (micelles) of surfactants. However, because undefined amounts of surfactants may be released into the aqueous systems, attention must be paid to their own environmental risks as well. Moreover, surfactant remediation methods must be carefully analyzed in the laboratory before field implementation. The use of biosurfactants is the best choice for the removal of water toxins as such surfactants are associated with the characteristics of biodegradability, versatility, recovery, and reuse. This Review is focused on the currently employed surfactant-based soil and wastewater treatment technologies owing to their critical role in the implementation of certain solutions for controlling pollution level, which is necessary to protect human health and ensure the quality standard of the aquatic environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University , Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Afzal
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University , Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Suniya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shahzad
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University , Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Azeema
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Munir
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University , Dayton, Ohio 45324, United States.
authors.forename: Mallikarjuna N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Nadagouda
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University , Sheringal, Dir (Upper), 18000 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Gul Shahzada
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan , 23200 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Dilawar Farhan
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Shams
authors.affiliation: Environmental Engineering and Science Program, Department of Biomedical, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Cincinnati , Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0012, United States.
authors.forename: Dionysios D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Dionysiou
authors.affiliation: Sustainable Energy Technologies Center, College of Engineering, King Saud University , PO Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Usman Ali
authors.initials: UA
authors.lastname: Rana
mesh_terms: D003358:Cosmetics / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008823:Micelles; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry; D010575:Pesticides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D003358:Cosmetics; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D008823:Micelles; D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010575:Pesticides; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical