Removal of Toxic Heavy Metals from Contaminated Aqueous Solutions Using Seaweeds: A Review

Abstract

Heavy metal contamination affects lives with concomitant environmental pollution, and seaweed has emerged as a remedy with the ability to save the ecosystem, due to its eco-friendliness, affordability, availability, and effective metal ion removal rate. Heavy metals are intrinsic toxicants that are known to induce damage to multiple organs, especially when subjected to excess exposure. With respect to these growing concerns, this review presents the preferred sorption material among the many natural sorption materials. The use of seaweeds to treat contaminated solutions has demonstrated outstanding results when compared to other materials. The sorption of metal ions using dead seaweed biomass offers a comparative advantage over other natural sorption materials. This article summarizes the impact of heavy metals on the environment, and why dead seaweed biomass is regarded as the leading remediation material among the available materials. This article also showcases the biosorption mechanism of dead seaweed biomass and its effectiveness as a useful, cheap, and affordable bioremediation material.

The Utilization of Algae and Seaweed Biomass for Bioremediation of Heavy Metal-Contaminated Wastewater

“…The main sources of heavy metalcontaminated streams are industrial and agricultural sites, followed by domestic sewage. Other than that, certain natural phenomena like land erosion and volcanic eruptions may also add some unwanted metals to open waters [11]. The stubborn bioaccumulation of heavy metals affecting natural food chains has negative impacts on both human health and the broader ecosystem, especially for direct and long-term exposure.…”

“…ln (1 − q t / q e ) = −K f d t (11) where ln (1−q t /q e ) and K fd are the fractional attainment of equilibrium and the rate constant of film diffusion, respectively. The plot of ln (1 − q t /q e ) vs. t confirms a linear relationship.…”

“…To support environmental sustainability and circular economy systems, the utilization of low cost biomass sources as adsorbent materials has increased their promising potential [4,9,10]. Among other biomaterials, algae and seaweed have been identified as having competitive efficiency for heavy metal elimination from both simulated and raw wastewater [11]. The use of biomass for metals removal offers various benefits such as high metal uptake, good reusability, cost-effectiveness, wide availability in Nature, and the possibility of their usage in both continuous and batch modes [12,13].…”

Mangifera indica Leaf (MIL) as a Novel Material in Atmospheric Water Collection

“…Over 2 billion people of the 7.7 billion people living in the world experienced high water stress, while 4.5 billion people have inadequate sanitation and clean water sources . This perennial problem has been exacerbated by river siltation, climate change, population growth, and pollution, thus leading to water scarcity and prolonged pressure on the ecosystem. , Collecting water from the atmosphere can greatly alleviate the water shortage problem, especially for those living in arid and other crisis areas. Due to the evaporation of oceans, rivers, and lakes, the air is rich in water vapor, which flows to arid areas and encounters cold air that condenses it into tiny droplets .…”

Biotemplate Replication of Novel Mangifera indica Leaf (MIL) for Atmospheric Water Harvesting: Intrinsic Surface Wettability and Collection Efficiency

“…Floras and faunas have greatly suffered from this adverse environmental impingement as its effect is lucid around the world with tropical countries suffering the most. The situation has been exacerbated by climate change impact, greenhouse gases, and lack of access to drinking water thereby intensifying poverty, diseases, and natural disaster [ 3 ]. Atmospheric water collection offers a propitious remedy to clean water in the affected regions and the world at large considering the ubiquitous nature of moisture in the atmosphere [ 4 , 5 ].…”