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O. M. Darwesh et al.
compared to bulk materials, so their use often increases the efficiency and quality of
different production systems. In addition, applying nanotechnologies to daily activities greatly increases resource sustainability either by reducing the quantities required
from some or enabling the reusability and recyclability of others. Furthermore, it has
been reported that the environmental toxicity of some nanomaterials is lower than
that of similar non-nanoscale compounds, such as silver nanoparticles (Mourad et al.
2019; Abdel-Monem et al. 2020).
Consequently, a well-studied and good application of nanotechnology may be
the best way to overcome many technical and environmental problems and promote
economic development and environmental sustainability in many countries (Simate
et al. 2013; Hadef 2018; Nasrollahzadeh et al. 2019). Here in this chapter, the potential
role of microbial synthetic nanomaterials in different environmental applications and
its impact on environmental sustainability are discussed.
2 The Need for Environmental Sustainability
Destroying the environment will not only “compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs” but also could threaten the existence of humanity. Some
of the global threats such as the pollution, the global warming and the erosion of
the ozone layer consider as a critical and chronic problems for current generation
and for the next generations too (Durgalakshmi et al. 2019). The reckless consumption behavior of humans as well as the steady increase of populations in addition to
the competition between governments to obtain and sometimes take over resources
which are already limited has resulted in the depletion of many resources over the
years. Moreover, in order to increase productivity and efficiency of different production units such as agricultural farms and factories, humans have developed and used
advanced technologies which in general only does not only considers the rights of
next generations in the resources but also destroy it and pollute the environment.
Moreover, humans have developed many methods and techniques to increase the
productivity and efficiency of the various production units, but unfortunately, many
of these technologies do not take into account the rights of future generations to
resources and pollute the environment as well.
For instance, the dependence on the conventional resources energy such as fossil
fuels has many downsides, which includes the possibility of depleting the fossil fuel
and consequently depriving the next generation to benefit from it. In addition, the
continuous combustion of such fuels will lead to increase the percentage of carbon
dioxide gases and occurrence of the global warming. For these reasons, reliance
on renewable energy such as solar and wind energies as well as biofuels became
an urgent demand for energy and environment sustainability (El-Baz et al. 2016;
Matter et al. 2018; Sohail et al. 2019; Darwesh et al. 2020b). Another example
is the contamination of soils by different xenobiotics such as pesticides, aliphatic
and aromatic hydrocarbons among other due to intensive and randomly applications
O. M. Darwesh et al.
compared to bulk materials, so their use often increases the efficiency and quality of
different production systems. In addition, applying nanotechnologies to daily activities greatly increases resource sustainability either by reducing the quantities required
from some or enabling the reusability and recyclability of others. Furthermore, it has
been reported that the environmental toxicity of some nanomaterials is lower than
that of similar non-nanoscale compounds, such as silver nanoparticles (Mourad et al.
2019; Abdel-Monem et al. 2020).
Consequently, a well-studied and good application of nanotechnology may be
the best way to overcome many technical and environmental problems and promote
economic development and environmental sustainability in many countries (Simate
et al. 2013; Hadef 2018; Nasrollahzadeh et al. 2019). Here in this chapter, the potential
role of microbial synthetic nanomaterials in different environmental applications and
its impact on environmental sustainability are discussed.
2 The Need for Environmental Sustainability
Destroying the environment will not only “compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs” but also could threaten the existence of humanity. Some
of the global threats such as the pollution, the global warming and the erosion of
the ozone layer consider as a critical and chronic problems for current generation
and for the next generations too (Durgalakshmi et al. 2019). The reckless consumption behavior of humans as well as the steady increase of populations in addition to
the competition between governments to obtain and sometimes take over resources
which are already limited has resulted in the depletion of many resources over the
years. Moreover, in order to increase productivity and efficiency of different production units such as agricultural farms and factories, humans have developed and used
advanced technologies which in general only does not only considers the rights of
next generations in the resources but also destroy it and pollute the environment.
Moreover, humans have developed many methods and techniques to increase the
productivity and efficiency of the various production units, but unfortunately, many
of these technologies do not take into account the rights of future generations to
resources and pollute the environment as well.
For instance, the dependence on the conventional resources energy such as fossil
fuels has many downsides, which includes the possibility of depleting the fossil fuel
and consequently depriving the next generation to benefit from it. In addition, the
continuous combustion of such fuels will lead to increase the percentage of carbon
dioxide gases and occurrence of the global warming. For these reasons, reliance
on renewable energy such as solar and wind energies as well as biofuels became
an urgent demand for energy and environment sustainability (El-Baz et al. 2016;
Matter et al. 2018; Sohail et al. 2019; Darwesh et al. 2020b). Another example
is the contamination of soils by different xenobiotics such as pesticides, aliphatic
and aromatic hydrocarbons among other due to intensive and randomly applications