How are pollutants cleaned or removed from the environment?
1 Answer
By evaporation, aerobic degradation and by photochemical transformations
Explanation:
Some materials do not evaporate easily even they are very well mixed with water. For example salt left behind when water is evaporated from a water body. This occurs in oceans/seas, evaporated water from water bodies does not contain salt.
Running waters are oxygenated easily. If there is a pollutant that is subject to treatment by oxygen, it is degraded from upstream to downstream in a stream/river. Biodegradable organics are removed via this way.
Photochemical transformations are important fate processes for organic constituents in the near-surface aquatic environment and in the upper atmosphere. Enhanced photochemical processes are also being used for the treatment of some hazardous wastes. Inorganic pollutants can also be transformed by photochemical reactions. There are four principal photochemical reactions of environmental significance: direct photolysis, indirect photolysis, oxidation, and free-radical oxidation. Chlorinated compounds are particularly susceptible to oxidation.
