Use of Agricultural Solid Wastes as Adsorbents

Abstract

Biosorption through agricultural lignocellulosic wastes and by-products has been identified as a viable substitute to current technologies applied to remove toxic metal ion and organic pollutants from water and wastewater. The present study emphasizes the use of agricultural and agro-industries based residues as low-cost biosorbents. The study aims to revisit the status of biosorption and various recent advances made in this arena. Biomasses are the main focuse of this study which requires substantial management. Further, this is supplemented with the physicochemical processing of such biomasses and their application in adsorption. The surge in biomass to energy applications in recent years has resulted in charred biomass production as a residual. These biochars have been used as adsorbents. The biosorbents have been divided into the following three groups: (i) raw biomass, (ii) processed biomass and (iii) charred biomass. The affinity of sorbents in the removal of organic and inorganic pollutants and their applications on water and wastewater have also been studied.