Chapter 24 - Efficient techniques for the removal of toxic heavy metals from wastewater

Abstract

The rapid development of the human population, civilization, agriculture, and urbanization has led to water contamination in the world particularly in the developing countries. Heavy metals in wastewater are a major threat to humans because they are toxic and their availability is high in the environment. The evacuation and reuse of metals are of incredibly essential to environmental safety and asset reuse. On the other hand, there is a need to develop more simple and efficient techniques for the separation of heavy metals. This chapter presents a comprehensive review of the removal techniques such as coagulation and flocculation, flotation, chemical precipitation, ion exchange, electrochemical treatment, membrane filtration, and adsorption, and also their capability toward different metals and the advantages and disadvantages of each technique are discussed.