Top Research Papers on Heavy Metals in Water

The review shows that the electrochemical detection of heavy metal ions is a very promising strategy that has attracted widespread attention and can be applied in agriculture, life science, clinical diagnosis, and analysis.

Nanotechnology finds its application almost in every field of science and technology. At the same time, it also helps to find the solution to various environment-related problems, especially water contamination. Nanomaterials have many advantages over conventional materials, such as high surface area, both polar and non-polar chemistries, controlled and size-tunable, easier biodegradation, which made them ideal candidates for water and environmental remediation as well. Herein, applications of non-carbon nanomaterials, such as layered double hydroxides, iron oxide magnetite nanoparticles, nano...

Natural occurrence and anthropogenic practices contribute to the release of pollutants, specifically heavy metals, in water over the years. Therefore, this leads to a demand of proper water treatment to minimize the harmful effects of the toxic heavy metals in water, so that a supply of clean water can be distributed into the environment or household. This review highlights several water treatment methods that can be used in removing heavy metal from water. Among various treatment methods, the adsorption process is considered as one of the highly effective treatments of heavy metals and the fu...

Water quality depends on its physicochemical and biological parameters. Changes in parameters such as pH, temperature, and essential and non-essential trace metals in water can render it unfit for human use. Moreover, the characteristics of the local environment, geological processes, geochemistry, and hydrological properties of water sources also affect water quality. Generally, groundwater is utilized for drinking purposes all over the globe. The surface is also utilized for human use and industrial purposes. There are several natural and anthropogenic activities responsible for the heavy me...

The positive interdependencies between marine-related ions and the release of most heavy metals in the riverine and estuarine environments indicate an increase in the mobility of heavy metals as a result of cation exchange reactions.

Adsorption is a widely used technology for removing and separating heavy metal from water, attributed to its eco-friendly, cost-effective, and high efficiency. Adsorption isotherm modeling has been used for many years to predict the adsorption equilibrium mechanism, adsorption capacity, and the inherent characteristics of the adsorption process, all of which are substantial in evaluating the performance of adsorbents. This review summarizes the development history, fundamental characteristics, and mathematical derivations of various isotherm models, along with their applicable conditions and a...

In this review, the synthesis strategy and postsynthesis modification preparation methods are summarized for water-stable MOFs (WMOFs), and the recent advances on the adsorption and photocatalytic reduction of heavy metal ions in water by WMOFs are reviewed.

Due to the serious threat of heavy metal oxoanions to human health and the natural environment, their efficient removal from water contaminants has become a vital issue. Currently, adsorptive removal is one of most promising approaches to purify contaminated water. Thus, the exploration of advanced adsorption materials has attracted widespread attention. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with the advantages of tunable porosity, high surface area, and abundant functional groups are superior than conventional adsorbents. Herein, this review summarizes recent progress in different MOFs as outstandi...

With large specific surface area, abundant adsorption sites, flexible pore structure, and good water stability, Materials of Institute Lavoisier frameworks (MILs) have attracted increasing attention as effective environmental adsorbents. This review systematically analyzes and recapitulates recent progress in the synthesis and application of MIL-based adsorbents for the removal of aqueous heavy metal ions. Commonly used solvothermal, microwave, electrochemical, ultrasonic, and mechanochemical syntheses of MILs are first summarized and compared. Instead of focusing on adsorption process paramet...

Arsenic is a highly toxic metalloid that is extensively distributed in soils and water bodies, resulting in a variety of toxicity mechanisms and harmful effects on humans and environmental health. This paper comprehensively reviews the technological development in arsenic (As) removal from wastewater and contaminated soil, and provides insights into the challenges in effective arsenic removal from the environmental compartments. The arsenic removal efficiency of the available technologies is also discussed in terms of their principle of operation, efficiency, advantages, and shortcomings. Many...

The presence of heavy metals in the environment is an issue of great concern because of their growing discharge, toxicity, and other adverse effects on the receiving water. Adsorption has been proven to be one of the best options for pollution control in water in which functional organoclays are prominent candidates for treating wastewater containing heavy metal ions. This review deals with comprehensive information on the application of functional organoclays (polymer-, silane coupling agent-, surfactant-, ionic liquid- and other organics based organoclays) for heavy metal ions uptake from aq...

Heavy metals are toxic and non-biodegradable environmental contaminants that seriously threaten human health. The remediation of heavy metal-contaminated water and soil is an urgent issue from both environmental and biological points of view. Recently, nanomaterials with excellent adsorption capacities, great chemical reactivity, active atomicity, and environmentally friendly performance have attracted widespread interest as potential adsorbents for heavy metal removal. This review first introduces the application of nanomaterials for removing heavy metal ions from the environment. Then, the e...

Investigation of the synergistic influence of key water, sediment and ionic properties on the adsorption-desorption behavior of weakly-bound heavy metals provides fundamental knowledge for understanding the mobility and potential ecotoxicological impacts of heavy metals in aquatic ecosystems.

Heavy-metal (HM) pollution is considered a leading source of environmental contamination. Heavy-metal pollution in ground water poses a serious threat to human health and the aquatic ecosystem. Conventional treatment technologies to remove the pollutants from wastewater are usually costly, time-consuming, environmentally destructive, and mostly inefficient. Phytoremediation is a cost-effective green emerging technology with long-lasting applicability. The selection of plant species is the most significant aspect for successful phytoremediation. Aquatic plants hold steep efficiency for the remo...

The research progress in the adsorption of heavy metals in water treatment by electrospun nanofibrous membranes is reviewed and may provide an insight for the development of ENFMs-based adsorbents for heavy metals separation and water purification in the future.

Rapid industrialization, increased waste production and surge in agricultural activities, mining, contaminated irrigation water and industrial effluents contribute to the contamination of water resources due to heavy metal (HM) accumulation. Humans employ HM-contaminated resources to produce food, which eventually accumulates in the food chain. Decontamination of these valuable resources, as well as avoidance of additional contamination has long been needed to avoid detrimental health impacts. Phytoremediation is a realistic and promising strategy for heavy metal removal from polluted areas, b...

It is shown that sulfide-producing yeasts are able to remove mercury, lead and copper from real-world water samples and offer a platform for metal re-extraction through precipitation of metal sulfide nanoparticles.

The bioremediation mechanism of heavy metal ions in water by using microalgae and their modified products and the relevant research progresses since 2015 are critically reviewed and discussed.

Magnetic nanoparticles require a protective coating to enable them to be used to adsorb heavy metals from wastewater, given their oxidation properties and instability in acidic media. Humic acid (HA) has an affinity for magnetic nanoparticles, but its adsorption capacity is low. To improve adsorption capacity, we synthesized a novel adsorbent (HA-O/Fe3O4) through chemical modification and examined its adsorption of Pb (II), Cu (II), Cd (II), and Ni (II) ions. The effects of pH competition, adsorption mechanism, isotherm, kinetics, regeneration, and stability were investigated. The HA-O/Fe3O4 e...

The present work reports the adsorption behavior involved in the adsorption of heavy metal ions using a hybrid inulin-tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) adsorbent produced through the sol-gel process. An aqueous multi-element solution was used in order to examine the inulin-TEOS adsorbent efficiency in removing Cd2+, Co2+, and Ni2+ ions. The effects of the contact duration, adsorbent dosage, initial concentration, and solution pH on the adsorption of the targeted metal ions in batch systems were evaluated. The optimal conditions for the removal of all targeted heavy metals were as follows: 30 mg of an a...