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(DOCs), heavy metal impurities, contaminants, suspended solids. The filtration techniques aren’t so perfect
leading to traces of some germs, contaminants and very small particles which could lead to adverse effects
on the living beings not just due their ingestion but also due to the adverse effect on the environment if let
Carbon Nano Tubes (CNTs) are found to be more efficient in case of affinity (adsorption) of
organic compounds when compared with the activated carbon. This could be achieved by engineering the
CNTs by functionalizing it with groups like carboxyl, alcohol and other oxidised forms so that they could
adsorb both polar and non-polar organic compounds as well as heavy metals more efficiently.
Oxidized Carbon Nano Tubes (CNTs) have better efficiency than activated carbon in the removal
of heavy metals like Cd2+, Zn2+, Cu2+ and Pb2+ as it has fast kinetics (diffusion through the micropore wall
is fast in CNTs but a slow step in activated carbon due to the size), but in polishing stages which would
Metal based Nano Adsorbents Iron oxide, Titanium dioxide and Alumina are found to have good
ability of trapping heavy metals like Ni, Cd, Cr, Pb, Cu, As and radio nuclides. In a study it was found that
the adsorption capacity of Nano magnetite was increased by 100 times if its size was reduced from 300 nm
to 11 nm. The use of Iron oxide and TiO2 based Nano adsorbents has been commercialized due their
Polymeric Nano Adsorbents like Dendrimers have an exceptional ability to trap both metals and the
organic compounds. Generally, their interior shells are hydrophobic making it favourable for the sorption of
the organic compounds while their tail parts can be tailored by introducing carboxyl or amine terminated
compounds for the adsorption of heavy metals. The interaction for the adsorption in this case may be due to
complexation, electrostatic interactions, hydrophobic effect or hydrogen bonding. A dendrimer based ultra-
filtration setup was able to completely remove 10 ppm of Cu2+ ions present in the solution and interestingly
The application of Nano adsorbents could be incorporated in the existing water treatment plants as
then both have high adsorption capacity and very fast kinetics. But the main drawback is that we will require
an additional separation unit which implies extra cost and maintenance to recover the Nano adsorbents along
with their high cost. The use of Fixed Bed Reactors could be a solution for not having an additional
separation unit, but the potential drawback is due to the limitations in mass transfer and head losses.
Adsorption of Arsenic using Nano adsorbents has been commercialized. ArsenXnp is a commercially
available ion exchange medium which uses iron oxide Nano particles while ADSORBSIATM uses
nanocrystalline TiO2 medium for the removal of Arsenic. The treatment cost in ArsenXnp is as low as $0.25-
Membranes could be made of Nano materials but the main challenge being the requirement of high
energy as the filtration is a pressure driven process in this case. The fouling adds on to the energy
consumption as well as complexity of the process and design. Nanofiber membranes are being used for air
membranes. Nano-Ag and CNTs can be used to reduce biofouling of the membrane due to their anti-
pair which lead to the formation of reactive oxygen species (which would degrade the organic compounds)
or undergo undesired recombination which need to be controlled. Nanomaterials due to their high specific
surface area and easily accessible sites, generally have high catalytic activity. There are some potential
challenges in the scale up of photocatalysis are 1.) Optimization to increase yield or to utilise visible light,
2.) Better selectivity of reaction, 3.) Efficient reactor design for better catalyst recovery and immobilization
techniques.
CONCLUDING REMARKS: -
The use of Nano Technology in filtration would cost prohibitively high so we can overcome these by
two ways. 1.) Use of low purity Nano materials by not compromising with the efficiency. 2.) Retention and
Reuse of the Nano material. The second method more important as the health effects of the Nano particles
on humans and environment is not known. Research in the use Nano technology in the water filtration must
be done in a way that it should be compatibly used with the existing technology.
TiO2 based Nano technology is widely being used commercially due its low cost, easy regeneration
and no potential harm on human beings. More research is going on the TiO2 as a Nano-photocatalyst to
extend its excitation spectrum to visible light for the water treatment.
Acknowledgement: -
This is a report on Water Filtration submitted to Dr. Meduri Praveen for the course Introduction to
References: -
1.) Xiaolei Qu, Pedro J.J. Alvarez, Qilin Li. Applications of nanotechnology in water and wastewater
treatment .
2.) Wikipedia.