Methods for boron removal from aqueous solutions - A review

The manuscript gathers knowledge on boron its properties, sources, presence in the environment, effects on plants and animals and methods for its removal. It is shown that so far used recovery technologies should be developed and there is still a room for new separation methods. It seems that introduction of new sorption materials as well as the use of sorption-membrane filtration hybrid, combining sorption on fine B-sensitive sorbent with membrane separation, can offer promising features for technological approach. The intention of this review is to update the information on methods for boron removal and to show the direction of its development. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.