Authors : Gaurav S. Ghugare and Prafulla S. Katkar
Page Nos : 118-129
Description :
Heavy metals are natural constituents of the earth’s crust, resulting from the natural activities such as weathering, volcanic activity and anthropogenic activities like mining, manufacturing and industrialization. Coal mining is also considered one of the sources of heavy metal contamination in the surrounding environment. Heavy metals, particularly those used in excess, have raised concern for human health. Their impacts on the environment too have been studied extensively. Some of the heavy metals like Cr, Cd, Pb, Se, As, Hg, Co, Ni and Zn are of severe concern for the researchers in terms of their environmental load and health effects. Moreover, due to their non-biodegradability, it is very challenging to remove metals from the environment. Several researcher groups, chemical engineers and environmentalists are taking their efforts to mitigate the excessive release of heavy metals from coal mines to the environment. Therefore, numerous remediation strategies such as adsorption, ion-exchange, flocculation, coagulation, precipitation, electrochemical, ultra-filtration, phytoremediation and bioremediation methods have been developed and applied in order to remove the toxic metals from the coal mine environment. This review article briefly summarizes coal mining released heavy metals, their adverse impacts on living beings as well as on environment and their remediation approaches in detail.
