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The presence of lead compounds in the environment is an issue. In particular, supply water consumption has been reported to be a significant source of human exposure to lead compounds, which can pose an elevated risk to humans. Due to its toxicity, the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) have classified lead (Pb) and its compounds as probable human carcinogens. The European Community Directive and World Health Organization have set the maximum acceptable lead limits in tap water as 10 µg/L. The USEPA has a guideline value of 15 µg/L in drinking water. Removal of lead ions from water and wastewater is of great importance from regulatory and health perspectives. To date, several hundred publications have been reported on the removal of lead ions from an aqueous solution. This study reviewed the research findings on the low-cost removal of lead ions using different types of adsorbents. The research achievements to date and the limitations were investigated. Different types of adsorbents were compared with respect to adsorption capacity, removal performances, sorbent dose, optimum pH, temperature, initial concentration, and contact time. The best adsorbents and the scopes of improvements were identified. The adsorption capacity of natural materials, industrial byproducts, agricultural waste, forest waste, and biotechnology-based adsorbents were in the ranges of 0.8–333.3 mg/g, 2.5–524.0 mg/g, 0.7–2079 mg/g, 0.4–769.2 mg/g, and 7.6–526.0 mg/g, respectively. The removal efficiency for these adsorbents was in the range of 13.6–100%. Future research to improve these adsorbents might assist in developing low-cost adsorbents for mass-scale applications.

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The alginate-based adsorption technologies have emerged as potential methods for arsenic removal from drinking water. The adsorbents (iron oxide, hydroxide, nano zero valent iron (nZVI), industrial waste, minerals, magnetite, goethite, zirconium oxide, etc.) are impregnated into alginate beads to produce the media. The biocompatibility, rough surface with large area, and amorphous and high water permeable bead structure improve arsenic adsorption efficiency while the regeneration process is simpler than the conventional adsorbents. In recent years, studies have reported laboratory-scale applications of alginate beads, encapsulated and impregnated with adsorbents, for arsenic removal from drinking water. The arsenic removal efficiencies were reported to be over 95% with a wide range of concentrations (10–1,000 parts per billion) and pH (3.0–7.5). However, commercial- and/or mass-scale applications have not been reported yet, due possibly to overall cost, complexity, reusability, and arsenic waste-laden sludge management. In this paper, research achievement on arsenic removal using alginate-based adsorbents has been reviewed. The review was performed in context to alginate bead development, adsorbent encapsulation and impregnation, application, performance, and regeneration. The advantages and limitations of the methods were analyzed and the scopes of future research were identified for mass scale domestic and industrial applications.

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