Sonochemistry and the environment – Providing a “green” link between chemistry, physics and engineering

Environmental protection and green science have an integral association and yet both terms can mean different things to different people and both refer to methods of preventing or removing pollution. The former includes such things as the development of low pollution fuels (including the use of biodiesel and fuel cells for vehicles) and the search for cleaner synthetic routes in the chemical industry. The latter tends to be more closely associated with the clean-up of the environment e.g. the purification of water (chemical and biological), the decontamination of the atmosphere and soil. In this article recent developments in the application of ultrasound in both environmental protection and remediation will be considered.