Low cost adsorbents for the removal of organic pollutants from wastewater

Water pollution due to organic contaminants is a serious issue because of acute toxicities and carcinogenic nature of the pollutants. Among various water treatment methods, adsorption is supposed as the best one due to its inexpensiveness, universal nature and ease of operation. Many waste materials used include fruit wastes, coconut shell, scrap tyres, bark and other tannin-rich materials, sawdust and other wood type materials, rice husk, petroleum wastes, fertilizer wastes, fly ash, sugar industry wastes blast furnace slag, chitosan and seafood processing wastes, seaweed and algae, peat moss, clays, red mud, zeolites, sediment and soil, ore minerals etc. These adsorbents have been found to remove various organic pollutants ranging from 80 to 99.9%. The present article describes the conversion of waste products into effective adsorbents and their application for water treatment. The possible mechanism of adsorption on these adsorbents has also been included in this article. Besides, attempts have been made to discuss the future perspectives of low cost adsorbents in water treatment. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.