Removal of Heavy Metals from Industrial Wastewater using Low-Cost Waste Materials

Abstract

The most serious environmental problem in the world is heavy metal pollution due to industrialization and urbanization. A special concern is to be taken for the removal of heavy metals in the environment. In developing countries, the price effectiveness might be a major factor in the removal of heavy metal toxicity which is a major threat to the environment for several decades. In this study, heavy metal contamination of water bodies has been reviewed here. The toxic effluents from the textile industry, shredding facilities, glass industry, metal industry, refinery, automobile industry, pharmaceutical industry, semiconductor industry, printing industry, catering industry landfill leakage contain a huge amount of heavy metals in their waste. The conventional methods are very expensive, energy-intensive and sometimes generate a toxic byproduct. The current review focuses on the adsorption technique of heavy metals removal using different adsorbent materials from waste naturally. Numerous low-cost adsorbents are widely used such as garlic peel, jack fruit peel, oil palm trunk fiber, rice bran and wheat bran, broad bean peel, groundnut shell, raw agricultural solid waste, papaya seeds, leaf biomass etc. explored for the removal of toxic heavy metal from wastewater. These absorbents materials naturally have their origin by themselves such as zeolites, clay, sphagnum moss and polysaccharide which are found to be efficient agents for the removal of toxic metals like lead Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni, Hg, Cr, etc. Numerous agricultural wastes like rice husk, neem bark, black gram, waste tea-coffee, walnut-shell, coconut coir, coconut husk, bagasse etc., are widely used for the heavy metal removal in a sustainable nature.