Sustainable adsorbent frameworks based on bio-resourced materials and biodegradable polymers in selective phosphate removal for waste-water remediation.

Phosphorus to an optimum extent is an essential nutrient for all living organisms and its scarcity may cause food security, and environmental preservation issues vis-à-vis agroeconomic hurdles. Undesirably excess phosphorus intensifies the eutrophication problem in non-marine water bodies and disrupts the natural nutrient balance of the ecosystem. To overcome such dichotomy, biodegradable polymer-based adsorbents have emerged as a cost-effective and implementable approach in striking a "desired optimum-undesired excess" balance pertaining to phosphate in a sustainable manner. So far, the reports on adopting such adsorbent-approach for wastewater remediation remained largely scattered, unstructured, and poorly correlated. In this background, the contextual review comprehensively discusses the current state-of-the-art in utilizing biodegradable polymeric frameworks as an adsorbent system for phosphate removal and its efficient recovery from the aquatic ecosystem, while highlighting their characteristics-specific functional efficiency vis-à-vis easiness of synthetic and commercial viability. The overview further delves into the sources and environmental ramifications of excessive phosphorus in water bodies and associated mechanistic pathways of phosphorus removal via adsorption, precipitation, and membrane filtration enabled by biodegradable (natural and synthetic) polymeric substrates. Finally, functionality optimization, degradability tuning, and adsorption selectivity of biodegradable polymers are highlighted, while aiming to strike a balance in "removal-recovery-reuse" dynamics of phosphate. Thus, the current review not only paves the way for future exploration of biodegradable polymers in sustainable cost-effective adsorbents for phosphorus removal but also can serve as a guide for researchers dealing with this critical issue.

From outbreak of COVID-19 to launching of vaccination drive: invigorating single-use plastics, mitigation strategies, and way forward.

The unforeseen outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has significantly stipulated the use of plastics to minimize the exposure and spread of the novel coronavirus. With the onset of the vaccination drive, the issue draws even more attention due to additional demand for vaccine packaging, transport, disposable syringes, and other allied devices scaling up to many million tonnes of plastic. Plastic materials in personal protective equipment (PPE), disposable pharmaceutical devices, and packaging for e-commerce facilities are perceived to be a lifesaver for the frontline healthcare personnel and the general public amidst recurring waves of the pandemic. However, the same material poses a threat as an evil environmental polluter when attributed to its indiscriminate and improper littering as well as mismanagement. The review not only highlights the environmental consequences due to the excessive use of disposable plastics amidst COVID-19 but also recommends mixed approaches to its management by adopting the combined and step-by-step methodology of adequate segregation, sterilization, sanitization activities, technological intervention, and process optimization measures. The overview finally concludes with some crucial way-forward measures and recommendations like the development of bioplastics and focusing on biodegradable/bio-compostable material alternatives to holistically deal with future pandemics.