Biocellulose for Treatment of Wastewaters Generated by Energy Consuming Industries: A Review

Abstract

Water and energy are two of the most important resources used by humanity. Discharging highly polluting wastewater without prior treatment is known to adversely affect water potability, agriculture, aquatic life and even society. One of the greatest threats to water sources are contaminated effluents, which can be of residential or industrial origin and whose disposal in nature must comply with specific laws aimed at reducing their environmental impact. As the oil industry is closely related to energy consumption, it is among the sectors most responsible for global pollution. The damage caused by this industrial sector is present in all countries, whose legislations require companies to carry out wastewater treatment before disposal or recycling in their production process. Bacterial cellulose membranes have been shown to be efficient as filters for the removal of various contaminants, including biological and chemical agents or heavy metals. Therefore, their use could make an important contribution to bio-based technological development in the circular economy. Moreover, they can be used to produce new materials for industry, taking into consideration current environmental preservation policies aimed at a more efficient use of energy. This review aims to compare and describe the applications of cellulose membranes in the treatment of these effluents.

Applicability of Different Double-Layer Models for the Performance Assessment of the Capacitive Energy Extraction Based on Double Layer Expansion (CDLE) Technique

“…As a result, we may fix ε r = 78.5 at T = 298 K and evaluate C st and S e f f simultaneously by fitting the simulated Q-V curves to the measured data over all the NaCl concentrations of interest by using a nonlinear least square algorithm, supplemented with suitable lower and upper bounds. The result gives C St = 0.131 F/m 2 and S e f f = 619.46 m 2 /g. At first glance, a good agreement between the calculated and measured Q-V curves, as shown in Figure 8 and the fact that S e f f = 619.46 m 2 /g is comparable with the findings of reported results [19,22,23] seems to substantiate the rationale of C st and S e f f values.…”

“…The rapid economic development has led to increasingly serious conflict between resources and the environment, which forced the world to search for sustainable and green energy to substitute traditional energy [1][2][3]. One promising and reliable opinion is to extract energy from the salinity difference between seawater and freshwater.…”

Bacterial Cellulose: Production, Characterization, and Application as Antimicrobial Agent

“…Agitation rate has an impact on the size of the BC. It may decrease the size of BC from 8 mm to <1 mm [ 65 ]. The agitation rate needs to be optimized for the production of BC on a large scale as it varies for different microbes along with the culture medium.…”

Design of a Naturally Dyed and Waterproof Biotechnological Leather from Reconstituted Cellulose

“…Although plants are the major source of cellulose, several genera of microorganisms are also capable of producing this substance, which is known as bacterial cellulose or biocellulose (BC). As BC is considered a low-cost, extremely versatile, ecologically correct biopolymer, studies involving different applications of this biomaterial have increased over the years [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”