The constraints associated with the availability of huge amounts of natural resources for infrastructure and agricultural development call for the reuse and recycling of anthropogenically created geomaterials, which is in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In this context, valorisation of dredged sediments (DSs), obtained from water bodies such as rivers, lakes and oceans, as a resource material is worth considering. Unfortunately, DSs might be contaminated and exhibit a higher moisture-holding capacity due to higher contents of organic matter and clay minerals/colloids. These attributes pose a serious question towards dumping of DSs in the deep sea (in the case of marine sediments), a practice that prevails presently despite endangering marine life. Hence, the way forward would be to characterise them holistically, followed by adequate treatment to make them ecologically synergetic before developing a strategy for their valorisation. In this regard, many studies have been focused on the characterisation and treatment of DSs to make them an environmentally safe man-made resource. With this in mind, a critical synthesis of the published literature pertaining to the (a) characterisation; (b) treatment, remediation and immobilisation of contaminants; and (c) utilisation of DS was conducted, and the salient findings are presented in this paper. Based on this study, it was observed that DS acts as a sink for emerging contaminants for which no remediation strategies are available. Moreover, the study emphasised the lacuna in upscaling the existing treatment and stabilisation techniques to field conditions while highlighting the concept of circular economy.

中文翻译：

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受污染沉积物的表征、修复和价值评估：严格审查

与基础设施和农业发展所需的大量自然资源相关的限制要求对人类产生的岩土材料进行再利用和回收，这符合联合国可持续发展目标。在这种背景下，从河流、湖泊和海洋等水体中获得的疏浚沉积物（DS）作为资源材料的价值值得考虑。不幸的是，由于有机物和粘土矿物/胶体含量较高，DS 可能会受到污染并表现出较高的保湿能力。这些属性对在深海（海洋沉积物的情况下）倾倒固体物质提出了严重的问题，尽管这种做法危及海洋生物，但目前仍盛行。因此，前进的方向是从整体上描述它们的特征，然后进行适当的处​​理，使它们在生态上具有协同作用，然后再制定其增值策略。在这方面，许多研究都集中在 DS 的表征和处理上，以使它们成为环境安全的人造资源。考虑到这一点，对与以下相关的已发表文献进行了批判性综合：a ) 表征；( b ) 污染物的处理、修复和固定；( c ) 进行了 DS 的利用，本文介绍了重要的发现。根据这项研究，我们发现 DS 充当了新出现的污染物的汇，而目前尚无可用的补救策略。此外，该研究强调了在强调循环经济概念的同时，在根据现场条件升级现有处理和稳定技术方面的缺陷。