Novel Biomaterials – Commercialization Approach

Abstract

Biomaterials have been found to be associated with drawbacks related to less sorption efficiency and stability, restricting their commercial use (Pagnanelli et al. 2000; Scowronski et al. 2001). Sincere efforts toward structural modifications on the biomaterials leading to the enhancement of binding capacity and selectivity are, therefore, in great demand. A special emphasis is to be paid on green chemical modifications resulting in tailored biomaterials improving its sorption efficiency and environmental stability and thus making it liable for its commercial use as simple, fast, economical, eco-friendly green technologies. Attention has been paid by various research groups (Tsezos 1985; Saito et al. 1991; Gardea-Torresdey et al. 1998) to increase the sorption capacity of biomaterials for abatement of different metal ions. Klimmek and Stan (2001) reported that the maximum sorption capacities of the alga Lyngbya taylorii could be increased significantly after phosphorylation of the biomass. Bai and Abraham (2002) noted that the sorption ability of the fungus Rhizopus nigricans for Cr(VI) is also improved after the introduction of carboxyl and amino groups. The pretreatment of biomass with surfactants and cationic polyelectrolyte and deacetylation treatment of amino groups of chitin are favorable for abatement of metal ions (Tan and Cheng 2003). Pretreatment methods using different kinds of modifying agents such as base solution, organic acid solutions, and oxidizing agents have been used for the purpose of removing soluble organic compounds. Increase in efficiency of metal adsorption has been recently performed by many researches (Taty-Costodes et al. 2003; Gupta et al. 2003; Min et al. 2004; Acar and Eren 2006; Abia et al. 2006; Wankasi et al. 2006; Hannafiah et al. 2006). These chemical modifications in general improved the adsorption capacity of biomaterials probably due to higher number of active binding sites after modification, better ion exchange properties, and formation of new functional groups that favor metal uptake. The semi-synthetic biomaterials are deemed to be good candidates for their commercial use as biomaterials for removing toxic metals from wastewater with high adsorption efficiency.