Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

BatStateU Alangilan
Alangilan, Batangas City

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE

AND FINE ARTS
Chemical and Food Engineering Department

Journal Critique:
Current Trends in the Application of Nanomaterials for the Removal of Pollutants from
Industrial Wastewater Treatment – A Review

Submitted by:
PLATA, Alyssa Sydney L.
FE – 2101

Submitted to:
Engr. Nico John Rosaldo Abratique, M.Eng

Date:
01 December 2021
I. Abstract
The primary challenges that people confront nowadays are an adequate supply of clean,
safe, and potable water on a regular basis. Due to the scarcity of water resources, developing an
effective wastewater treatment process is one of the most pressing needs of the twenty-first
century. The composition of wastewater varies greatly depending on the source from which it is
generated. Furthermore, it is critical to developing acceptable approaches for treating wastewater.
Many researchers are interested in using nanotechnology to remediate wastewater, because of
recent developments. The main benefits of such nanomaterial-based systems are that they may be
reused and that they have been proven to be quite effective. For the removal of different pollutants
from wastewater, many kinds of nanomaterials are utilized. Nano adsorbents are ideal materials
for this use. In both subsurface and surface waterways, heavy metal pollution is ubiquitous. The
review study given focused on the use of nanomaterials to remove harmful pollutants.

II. Introduction
Clean water has become a competitive resource in many regions of the world due to fast
expanding population, dwindling water supplies, and climate change resulting in extended
droughts and floods. Wastewater is generated in a variety of locations, including residential
neighborhoods, factory sites and so on. There are high quantities of organic contaminants, heavy
metals, and non-dissolvable compounds. These elements may constitute harm to living beings and
the environment if left untreated, hence wastewater must be treated before disposal. Some
industrial wastewater treatments like coagulation, adsorption, chemical precipitation and the like
can sometimes be inefficient in removing certain pollutants.

Industrial waste is often categorized into two types: (1) hazardous which are harmful to the
environment and health of living things and (2) non-hazardous which in contrast is not harmful. In
Figure 1, various industrial wastes in different forms (wastewater, solid waste, and air leaks) are
considered to be hazardous. General categorization of industrial hazardous wastes. The F-list
(waste from conventional manufacturing and industrial operations), the K-list (trash from
particular industries), the P-list, and the U-list (waste from commercial chemical goods) are the
different types of garbage.
 Figure 1. Classifications of Hazardous Industrial Waste

The known biological approaches for wastewater treatment have the disadvantage of being
sluggish procedures that occasionally enhance toxicity by releasing bacteria into drinking water.
The removal of harmful compounds, organic elements, and microbes found in raw water is
insufficiently addressed by decades-old water treatment procedures. As a result, the most recent
nanotechnology-based technology is extremely effective in developing wastewater treatment using
nanomaterials. Nanotechnology is now being studied extensively by researchers because of its
prospective benefits, which include cheap cost, reuse, and great competence in eliminating and
recovering contaminants. Industrial wastewater, which is a byproduct of various processes in the
pharmaceutical industry, food production industry, and the like, municipal wastewater, which is
used water from institutes, offices, and households, and environmental wastewater, such as rainfall
runoff and snowmelt, are all examples of wastewater sources. When it comes to wastewater
treatment, choosing the most effective process and the proper material is critical, both in terms of
efficiency and cost. As a result, efficiency, reuse of resources, and cost effectiveness must all be
considered when choosing a wastewater treatment process. When considering nanomaterials in
waste streams and recovery options, one of the first things to consider is the quantity of industrial
nanomaterial generated and how much is released. Nanomaterials must have a well-organized
structure, be capable of filtering, be microscopic in size, and have a high surface to volume ratio.
These characteristics contribute to their unrivaled adsorption capability and reactivity, making
them ideal for heavy metal ion removal.

Furthermore, because many businesses that many people rely on for a living demand the
usage of water and create wastewater, human activities eventually have a detrimental impact on
human lives, ecosystems, and the environment. The majority of this harmful effluent ends up in
bodies of water such as lakes, beaches, and streams. As a result, industrial wastewater is made up
of wastewater from several industries, each of which creates its own unique mix of pollutants.
Industrial wastewater may contain certain organic constituents and inorganic particles depending
on the production process. Inorganic industrial wastewater is mostly found in the coal industries,
non-metallic mining industries and manufacturers that deal with metal surface processing. While
organic industrial wastewater refers to waste from large-scale chemical businesses and chemical
reactions, organic industrial wastewater refers to waste from smaller-scale chemical industries and
chemical processes. Steel mills generate significant amounts of wastewater, which comprises a
variety of dissolved, unidentified compounds and chemicals in both the sludge and the wastewater.
On the other hand, the manufacturing of paper and wood-pulping goods generates an alarming
number of contaminants, which injure aquatic creatures and have severe mutagenic and
physiological effects. In the process of transforming manufactured and natural threads into textiles
and other goods, the textile industry contributes considerably to water contamination. Wet
chemical operations are required in the production of most textiles in order to properly cleanse,
prepare, color, or finish the product. Highly suspended particles, heat, color, and other soluble
compounds are the main contaminants in textile wastewaters.

1. Industrial Wastewater Treatment (IWF) Processes

Chemical, physical, and organic processes are the three types of industrial wastewater
treatment systems or IWT. The most often used technologies can be categorized based on their
location in the plant: Pretreatments, primary treatments, secondary and tertiary treatments,
refining treatments, and disinfection are all covered. Physical wastewater treatment is largely
concerned with solid–liquid separations, with filtration playing a key role. The treatment
process is just one component of a traditional water treatment system, which includes a variety
of equipment and technology alternatives depending on the eventual treatment aim. On the
other hand, Equalization is one of the most significant pretreatments, with the goal of
equalizing and homogenizing the input wastewater, especially when industrial production
processes are discontinuous and varied in terms of intake contaminants. More complex
separation techniques are utilized in secondary and tertiary treatment stages, with a wide range
of process and equipment types. Coagulation, adsorption, and ion exchange are all charge-
 based separations in which the separation is substantially influenced by neutralizing the charges
and is especially suited for the removal of charged bodies/ions from solutions.

Figure 2. Steps in Industrial Wastewater Treatment (IWF) processes

2. Removal of Dyes
Organic dyes are one of the most widely released contaminants in wastewaters, however
many traditional treatment technologies are unable to properly remove them. We've seen the
fast growth of nanotechnologies over the last several decades, which has opened up new
possibilities for developing low-cost, high-efficiency dye-contaminated wastewater treatment
solutions. Nanomaterials having vast surface areas, changed surface characteristics, unique
electron conduction capabilities, and other qualities make them ideal for dyecontaminated
wastewater treatment. In table 1, dyes of various kinds can be seen along with their application
and harmful effects on human health.
 Table 1. The use of various dyes and their toxicity

When using silicon-graphene (sg) nano porous composites, an extreme cut of all these
approaches is taken into account, as the compounds can pre-concentrate the analyte into the
porous structure and broaden the analyte signal if an appropriate method is used. Steps in water
sampling, for example, can be eliminated using Raman spectroscopy. Water samples may be
easily kept on the silicon graphene films, and contaminants can be detected using Raman
spectroscopy. Silicon graphene may create thick films that can be used to detect dyes using
molecular templating methods. Aside from identification, silicon graphene composites also
operate as sorbents for the analyte's equivalent molecules. Organophosphorus pesticides
adsorption on silicon graphene composites was investigated. Moreover, the ability of silicon
graphene compounds to adsorb various pesticides was investigated, and the capacity of removal
varied. As previously stated, the expansion of magnetic nanoparticles into silicon graphene
composites plays a crucial role in promoting composite recovery in this condition. In an
experiment, Kubo et al. created multifunctional silicon graphene nanocomposites by inducing
a superparamagnetic nanoparticles material into the mesoporous silica incorporating graphene
oxide. Fe3O4 addition, on the other hand, resulted in a 72% reduction in surface area and a
15% reduction in pore diameters. In light of this, silicon graphene nanocomposites may aid in
contaminant removal.

3. Heavy Metals removal

Contamination of water, particularly heavy metals pollution within it, has become a
global environmental concern. Mining, electroplating, paint and enameling, PCB industries,
among other things, can introduce heavy metals into the water. Metal compound nanomaterials,
such as titanium dioxide nanoparticles in arsenic adsorption and nanosized magnetite, showed
a preference for heavy metal removal over activated carbon. In daylight, a titanium dioxide
nanocomposite and titanium dioxide nanoparticles applied to a graphene sheet were also used
to reduce chromium VI to chromium III. Carbon-based nanomaterials have emerged as
possible wastewater treatment options due to their simplicity of chemical or physical
modification and capacity to remove both organic and inorganic contaminants. Iron oxide is
also commonly utilized as an adsorbent for removing heavy metal arsenic from wastewater. In
 figure 3, conventional methods of heavy metals removal in wastewater are discussed. These
methods are classified into 3 groups: physical, chemical, and biological methods.

Figure 3. Conventional methods for heavy metal removal

4. Removal of Pesticides
Water contamination and pesticide residues in the food chain have become a major
health and environmental concerns in recent years. As a result, for full mineralization of
pesticides to non-toxic forms, an efficient process is required. Due to their low cost, industrial
wastes such as carbon slurry, fly ash, and sludge are designated as simple materials, and
pesticides may be removed locally using adsorbents. Some studies discussed pesticide sorption
and fly ash capabilities, recommending that they be used to remove pesticides from wastewater.
Pesticides are widely employed to protect plants against pests, fungus, and weeds in
agricultural production across the world. Pesticide pollution, followed by heavy metals from
fertilizers and nitrate contamination, is extremely harmful. Groundwater contamination of soil
improvement on territories is shown by water mineralization. The health risk posed by
dangerous and hazardous chemical chemicals found in drinking water is commonly defined as
the possibility that substance exposure will have a negative impact on health.

5. Key Parameters for the Pollutant Removal

When attempting to remove contaminants from wastewater in order for it to be considered
useful, there are several factors to consider. Solvents of lower viscosity flow more quickly into
 the pores, whereas very viscous liquids take longer to disperse. Electrostatic interactions and
chemicals with the sorbent are required to eliminate water-dispersible contaminations. The
number of dynamic sites, such as surface area, might be increased to improve them. Moreover,
subatomic techniques are a better way to make silicon graphene composites with better
performance. The molecular cavities focus on molecules and help dyes identify them more
effectively. The molecular imprinting technique may also be used to create silicon graphene
nanocomposites for heavy metal removal.

6. Nanomaterials Reuse and Retaining

Advances in nanotechnology provide new possibilities for developing devices that
might help solve water concerns by overcoming technological hurdles. Because of the cost and
general health concerns, nanomaterial retention and re-utilization through membrane filtering
are critical elements of nanotechnology device designs, essential qualities that allow prolonged
chemical use. The breakdown of nanomaterials that unleash metal ions must be carefully
controlled. Moreover, the detection of nanomaterial release is a substantial, specialized
impediment for hazardous assessment that continues to be difficult, preventing specific
nanomaterials from being repurposed to rectify the cost process. Future research in real-world
settings is needed to evaluate the utilization and efficiency of various nanomaterials.

7. Environmental Significance and Future Application

Industrial wastewater treatment is complicated, and it frequently necessitates numerous
treatment procedures in a row. Though distillation of polluted water is guaranteed to remove
all toxins except those that are volatile, it can be prohibitively costly. However, not all industrial
water requires such thorough treatment. There are several obstacles to introducing a new
technology into the business, mostly due to high capital expenditures and tight environmental
rules that need the technology to be adequately established in terms of efficiency before
commercialization. In this sense, there is an urgent need for a greater study to lower
environmental toxicity. More effort is needed to create cost-effective techniques for
nanomaterial fabrication and successful field application to determine the materials' efficiency.
The market demands that the procedure expenses associated with the environmentally safe
character of the aforementioned nanoparticles be kept to a minimum.
III. Conclusion
Despite the fact that the global accessible supply of clean water is sufficient to fulfill
all current and predictable water demands. Drinking water supplies are insufficient in a number
of regions to meet fundamental, economic, and household development demands. Academics,
research institutes, research fellows, and young scientists must find a new approach to break
free from these limitations. Significant solutions for wastewater purification technology are
required in today's period to eradicate chemical and biological impurities from industrial
effluent. Nanomaterial-based wastewater treatment technologies are critical in this area.
Furthermore, as seen in the discussions above, nanomaterials have a significant influence on
wastewater treatment. Semiconducting nanoparticles provide a significant contribution to
wastewater treatment and degradation. Nanomaterials are also important in the removal of
contaminants via adsorption or filtering methods. The nanomaterials addressed in this study
are effective adsorbents that may be used to remove pollutants such as colors and metals from
industrial wastewaters. However, nanomaterial applications for industrial wastewater treatment
have some significant limits as well as certain negative consequences on the environment and
human health, making it challenging to create long-term pollution removal solutions. As a
result, new research efforts should be investigated in order to address these issues and
overcome these obstacles.

IV. References
Dr. Krishna, L., et al. (2021). “Current Trends in the Application of Nanomaterials for the
Removal of Pollutants from Industrial Wastewater Treatment – A Review
”. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351460138_Current_Trends_in_the_Application_o
f_Nanomaterials_for_the_Removal_of_Pollutants_from_Industrial_Wastewater_TreatmentA
_Review