Introduction of adsorption techniques for heavy metals remediation

Variety of heavy metals found their way into the environment as a result of the noxious release of untreated wastewater from industries, causing severe pollution to our natural resources. These hazardous metals, in turn, present new risks to humans. As a result, there is a growing demand for environmentally safe, systematic, and novel methods of removing these harmful heavy metals. Chemical, physical, and biological techniques are among the established methods that have been investigated, but the problem persists because they have not proven to be particularly efficient in tackling the problems of contaminated sites. These traditional approaches have shortcomings of high operating costs, rising energy consumption, and reduced performance. Surpassing these constraints, adsorption, which operates on the principle of the physico-chemical surface hypothesis, was discovered to be a much cheaper, beneficial, convenient, responsive, and efficient technique for eradicating toxic metals. Modifying the chemical and physical properties of lignocellulosic material, micobes, nanotubes, industrial bio wastes, metal organic frameworks (MOFs), and nanocomposites contribute to the development of an excellent adsorbent. This chapter has highlighted various adsorbents and their applications, as well as their adsorption efficiency. The article also investigated the factors that influence adsorption processes.