Emerging Trends in the Remediation of Persistent Organic Pollutants Using Nanomaterials and Related Processes: A Review

Abstract

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have become a major global concern due to their large amount of utilization every year and their calcitrant nature. Due to their continuous utilization and calcitrant nature, it has led to several environmental hazards. The conventional approaches are expensive, less efficient, laborious, time-consuming, and expensive. Therefore, here in this review the authors suggest the shortcomings of conventional techniques by using nanoparticles and nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has shown immense potential for the remediation of such POPs within a short period of time with high efficiency. The present review highlights the use of nanoremediation technologies for the removal of POPs with a special focus on nanocatalysis, nanofiltration, and nanoadsorption processes. Nanoparticles such as clays, zinc oxide, iron oxide, aluminum oxide, and their composites have been used widely for the efficient remediation of POPs. Moreover, filtrations such as nanofiltration and ultrafiltration have also shown interest in the remediation of POPs from wastewater. From several pieces of literature, it has been found that nano-based techniques have shown complete removal of POPs from wastewater in comparison to conventional methods, but the cost is one of the major issues when it comes to nano- and ultrafiltration. Future research in nano-based techniques for POP remediation will solve the cost issue and will make it one of the most widely accepted and available techniques. Nano-based processes provide a sustainable solution to the problem of POPs.

Facile synthesis of different metals doped α-PbO nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of Methylene Blue dye

“…Organic pollutants are persistent longer in the environment and their bioaccumulation and pervasiveness makes them highly toxic to aquatic life, including humans, plants, and animals [1]. Methylene blue dye is one of the persistent organic pollutants released by the textile industries along with sewage to water sources and other environments.…”

Recent Strategies for the Remediation of Textile Dyes from Wastewater: A Systematic Review

“…Many functional groups like carboxy, carbonyl, hydroxy, phosphoryl, and amide groups are present in algal cell walls, which help in dye decolorization [126]. In another investigation, Mahajan et al [127] reported 70-100% decolorization of methyl red dye at pH 3.5-9.5 using Chara vulgaris L. In another study by Boulkhessaim et al [128], they reported 45-80% decolorization of dyes using Chlorella vulgaris, whereas Dellamatrice et al [129] observed 91% dye decolorization using Cyanobacterium phormidium. In another study, Alprol et al [130] found 75.7% and 61.11% decolorization of dyes by using Arthrospira platensis complete dry biomass and lipid-free biomass.…”

A review on plasmonic-based heterojunction photocatalysts for degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater

“…Much has been written in the literature about heterojunction photocatalysts for wastewater treatment because of their unique properties such as ease of fabrication, low cost, chemical stability, and non-toxicity [ 13 – 15 ]. However, heterojunction photocatalysts have some drawbacks that limit their practical application such as rapid recombination of charge carriers and limited absorption of visible light, which reduces the photocatalytic efficiency [ 16 , 17 ]. Therefore, the photocatalytic efficiency of the heterojunction photocatalyst can be greatly improved by coating the photocatalyst surface with metal nanoparticles (NPs) as plasmonic materials known as plasmonic-based heterojunction photocatalysts [ 18 , 19 ].…”