Microplastics Pollution and its Remediation

The book elaborates on microplastics as a global concern, prompting the need for comprehensive understanding and effective management. It thoroughly explores the various aspects of microplastics, addressing their detection, separation, and contamination in diverse ecosystems. The introductory chapter highlights the global risks associated with microplastics while presenting the challenges and opportunities in tackling this issue. It focuses on the detection techniques employed to identify microplastics, providing insights into the analytical methods and technologies utilized in their characterization. It delves into the separation techniques used to extract microplastics from complex environmental matrices, aiding in their accurate quantification and analysis. The subsequent chapters examine the presence and impact of microplastics in specific ecosystems, including aquatic and terrestrial. It investigates the prevalence of microplastics in water bodies and their detrimental effects on aquatic organisms and elucidates their distribution, transport, and ecological implications on land-dwelling organisms. The book further explores microplastics’ occurrence in foods, cosmetics, and air pollution and associated health hazards. It delves into the lesser-known aspects of microplastics influence on nitrogen cycling and nitrous oxide emissions, offering valuable insights into their impact on biogeochemical processes. It discusses microplastics environmental risks and hazards, covering the ecological, biodiversity, and ecosystem-level impacts caused by these persistent pollutants. The concluding chapters focus on sustainable management strategies for mitigating and controlling microplastics proliferation and associated risks.

This book provides a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach for understanding and addressing the challenges posed by microplastics. It serves as a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, environmentalists, and anyone concerned about the impact of microplastics on planet. This book aims to foster sustainable management practices and contribute to a cleaner and healthier environment by unraveling microplastics complexities.

Dr. Ajay Kumar as a Professor and Head of the Department of Biotechnology at the Faculty of Engineering and Technology at Rama University Uttar Pradesh, Kanpur, Dr. Kumar has successfully served more than 21 years in research and teaching. He has a proven experience in Genomics & Proteomics, Bioprocess Engineering, Bioinformatics, Microbiology, Industrial Microbiology, Genetic Engineering, Environmental Biotechnology, Fermentation Technology, and Food Biotechnology. He has held several key positions in well-renowned Universities and Engineering Institutes. Dr. Kumar received his M. Tech. (Biotechnology) from the Institute of Engineering & Technology, Lucknow, India and Ph.D. from the ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Goats, Mathura, India. His expertise lies in research that includes computational vaccine & drug development, cancer biology genomics & proteomics, and fermentation technology. He has published 100 articles, 20 chapters, 4 books, and 7 patents. He has also served as chief and associate editor, editorial board member, and reviewer of several peer-reviewed journals. He is a research guide in his supervision M.Tech and Ph. D. scholars awarded their degree and supervising. Besides all these achievements, he is also a member of the Board of Study and Academic Council of Rama University Kanpur and Regional Food Research Analysis Center, Department of horticulture & food processing, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Being a member of a professional body such as the international association of engineers (IAENG) and INSA, he has rendered consultancy services in vaccine research.

Dr. Vijai Singh is a Professor and Head of the Department of Biosciences, School of Science at Indrashil University, Rajpur, Mehsana, Gujarat, India. He has worked as Associate Professor in the Department of Biosciences, School of Science at Indrashil University, Rajpur, Mehsana, India. He was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology at the Institute of Advanced Research, Gandhinagar, India and also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at the Invertis University, Bareilly, India. Prior to that, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Synthetic Biology Group at the Institute of Systems and Synthetic Biology, Paris, France and School of Energy & Chemical Engineering at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea. He received his Ph.D. in Biotechnology (2009) from the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow, India with a research focus on the development of molecular and immunoassays for diagnosis of Aeromonas hydrophila. His research interests are focused on building novel biosynthetic pathways for production of medically and industrially important biomolecules. Additionally, his laboratory is working on CRISPR-Cas9 tools for genome editing. He has more than 12 years of research and teaching experience in synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, bioinformatics, microbiology, and industrial microbiology. He has published 104 articles, 75 book chapters, 25 books and 3 patents. He serves as an associate editor, editorial board member, and reviewer of several peer-reviewed journals. He is also a member of the Board of Study and Academic Council of Indrashil University and is the Member Secretary of the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBSC) at the same University.