Title: Methodologies for removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater: an overview

Authors: Renu; Madhu Agarwal; Kailash Singh

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, JLN Marg, Jaipur-302017, India ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, JLN Marg, Jaipur-302017, India ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, JLN Marg, Jaipur-302017, India

Abstract: Heavy metal is a serious problem nowadays. These heavy metals are discharged into water from various chemical industries. They are harmful for living organisms and it is necessary to eliminate these heavy metals to minimise risk of uptake by plants, animal and human. In the last few decades, several methods have been developed and extensively investigated for heavy metal removal. There are several methods for heavy metal removal: chemical precipitation, adsorption, ion exchange, membrane filtration, coagulation-flocculation and floatation. In this paper, an attempt is made to review various methodologies for heavy metal removal from wastewater with their advantages and disadvantages. It is evident from the literature survey that adsorption method is widely used over conventional methods, (i.e., chemical precipitation, ion exchange, membrane filtration, coagulation-flocculation and floatation) because of its low cost, availability and eco-friendly nature.

Keywords: adsorption; heavy metal; methodology; wastewater.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2017.087915

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2017 Vol.18 No.2, pp.124 - 142

Received: 07 Feb 2017
Accepted: 19 Jul 2017

Published online: 07 Nov 2017 *

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