Nanotechnology: Emerging Opportunities and Regulatory Aspects in Water Treatment

Abstract

Nanotechnology is emerging as one of the innovative technologies, which involves the controlled synthesis of structures, materials, and devices in the nano range. Nanomaterials have shown their competence in almost all fields of science due to their entirely different functional properties than bulk counterparts. Environmental nanotechnology is a revolutionary field of science and technology that involves the use of nanomaterials for environmental applications. In this era, the most worrying issue of global concern are water scarcity, which is becoming more intense day by day due to increasing human population, civilization, environmental changes, agricultural activities, and industrialization. The conventional water treatment approaches like coagulation, flocculation, activated carbon adsorption, ozonation, and membrane processing are not competent to remove all the contaminants from wastewater, which necessitate the emergence of developing novel water treatment technologies to overcome this social issue. In view of these, nanotechnology is one of the promising tools to solve the problems of water purification and wastewater treatment. The competency of nanomaterials is due to their high reactivity, large specific surface area, affinity for specific target contaminants, size-dependent properties, and a high degree of functionalization of engineered nanoforms. Different nanomaterials are used in the past for the detection and removal of chemical and biological contaminants. The toxic effect of nanomaterials on ecology and human health is a critical concern in their selection for commercial applications. Hence, regulatory guidelines should be adopted before the marketing of nanoengineered products. This chapter covers diverse applications of nanotechnology in different sectors, the action mechanism of nanomaterials, conventional and advanced tools for wastewater treatment, and the application of nanotechnology in water purification and wastewater treatment. Further, attention is paid to safety issues with the use of nanomaterials along with regulatory aspects. The commercial processes of nano-based materials related to water application will also be addressed.