Abstract
Contamination of drinking water is a major global problem as it causes irreversible damage to soil, plants, humans, and animals and spreads numerous epidemics and chronic diseases. Wastewater contains high concentration of metals, herbicides, pesticides, and toxic industrial effluents that can disrupt various biochemical processes in the animals and human beings and lead to alteration of enzyme activities/pathways which could cause various diseases and even genetic disorders. The worldwide population growth and climate change have posed serious threats to the availability of clean drinking water, and there is an urgent need for novel and innovative water treatment technologies to ensure continuous supply of pure drinking water. Moreover, the harmful effects and limitations of chemical-based water treatment processes are well known. A recent trend in nanotechnology shows the applications of nano-based materials, such as nano-adsorbents, nano-metals, nano-membranes, and photocatalysts, in various processes. Keeping all these factors in mind, the present chapter is aimed to summarize the use of nanoparticles in the remediation and treatment of wastewater. This chapter also deals with potential future applications of nanoparticle-based treatment methods and its comparison with conventional processes along with commercialization of products.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- 3D EEM:
-
3D excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy
- ADK:
-
Adenylate kinase
- AFM:
-
Atomic force microscopy
- BET:
-
Brunauer–Emmett–Teller
- COD:
-
Chemical oxygen demand
- DLS:
-
Dynamic light scattering
- EDX:
-
Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
- EPS:
-
Extracellular polymeric substance
- FTIR:
-
Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy
- HGMS:
-
High-gradient magnetic separation
- HDC:
-
Hydrodechlorination
- ICP-MS:
-
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
- TBARS:
-
Lipid peroxidation
- LB-EPS:
-
Loosely bound EPS
- MNP:
-
Magnetic nanoparticles
- MBC:
-
Minimum bactericidal concentration
- MIC:
-
Minimum inhibitory concentration
- NTO:
-
Nanocrystalline titanium dioxide
- NaR:
-
Nitrate reductase
- NiR:
-
Nitrite reductase
- NOEC:
-
No observed effect concentration
- nZVI:
-
Nano-zerovalent iron
- OMWW:
-
Olive mill wastewater
- OECD:
-
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
- PAAH:
-
Poly-allylamine-hydrochloride
- PAH:
-
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- PPK:
-
Polyphosphate kinase
- PVP:
-
Polyvinylpyrrolidone
- GSH:
-
Reduced glutathione
- SEM:
-
Scanning electron microscope
- SPIONS:
-
Super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles
- TGA:
-
Thermogravimetric
- TSS:
-
Total suspended solids
- TEM:
-
Transmission electron microscopy
- TCE:
-
Trichloroethene
- TETA:
-
Triethylenetetramine
- UASB:
-
Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket
- WSS:
-
Waste silicon sludge
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
- XAS:
-
X-ray absorption spectroscopy
- XRD:
-
X-ray diffraction
- XPS:
-
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
References
World Health Organization (2008) Guidelines for drinking water quality, 3rd edn. Geneva. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/ fulltext.pdf
Brezonik PL, Arnold WA (2012) Water chemistry: fifty years of change and progress. Environ Sci Technol 46:5650–5657
Chen S, Zou Y, Yan Z, Shen W, Shi S, Zhang X, Wang H (2009) Carboxymethylated bacterial cellulose for copper and lead ion removal. J Hazard Mater 161:1355–1359
Chen Y, Pan B, Li H, Zhang W, Lv L, Wu J (2010) Selective removal of Cu(II) ions by using cation-exchange resin-supported polyethyleneimine (PEI) nanoclusters. Environ Sci Technol 44:3508–3513
Ivanov V, Tay JH, Tay STL, Jiang HL (2004) Removal of micro-particles by microbial granules used for aerobic wastewater treatment. Water Sci Technol 50:147–154
Pokhrel D, Viraraghavan T (2008) Arsenic removal from an aqueous solution by modified A. niger biomass: batch kinetic and isotherm studies. J Hazard Mater 150:818–825
Vaclavikova M, Gallios GP, Hredzak S, Jakabsky S (2008) Removal of arsenic from water streams: an overview of available techniques. Clean Technol Envir 10:89–95
Schulte J, Dutta J (2005) Nanotechnology in environmental protection and pollution. Sci Technol Adv Mater 6:219–220
Auffan M, Shipley HJ, Yean S, Kan AT, Tomson M, Rose J, Bottero JY (2007) Nanomaterials as adsobents. In: Wiesner MR, Bottero JY (eds) Environmental nanotechnology: applications and impacts of nanomaterials. McGraw-Hill, New York, pp 371–392
Carlos L, Einschlag FSG, González MC, Mártire DO (2013) Applications of magnetite nanoparticles for heavy metal removal from wastewater. In: Einschlag FSG, Carlos L (eds) Wastewater - treatment technologies and recent analytical developments. InTech Publisher, Rijeka, Croatia,  pp 63–77
Laurent S, Forge D, Port M, Roch A, Robic C, Vander EL, Muller RN (2008) Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: synthesis, stabilization, vectorization, physicochemical characterizations and biological applications. Chem Rev 108:2064–2110
Mandal BK, Suzuki KT (2002) Arsenic round the world: a review. Talanta 58:201–235
Mohan D, Pittman CU (2007) Arsenic removal from water/wastewater using adsorbents – a critical review. J Hazard Mater 142:1–53
Deliyanni EA, Peleka EN, Gallios GP, Matis KA (2010) A critical review of the separation of arsenic oxyanions from dilute aqueous solution (the contribution of LGICT). Int J Environ Pollut 8:286–304
Mayo JT, Yavuz C, Yean S, Cong L, Shipley H, Yu W, Falkner J, Kan A, Tomson M, Colvin VL (2007) The effect of nanocrystalline magnetite size on arsenic removal. Sci Technol Adv Mater 8:71–75
Bedi PS, Kaur A (2015) An overview on uses of zinc oxide nanoparticles. WJPPS 4:1177–1196
Pandipriya J, Praveena E, Kuriakose RM, Suganiya MJA, Therese M, Nandhitha NM (2104) An insight into the selection of nanoparticle for removing contaminants in wastewater. Int J Eng Res Appl 4:203–208
Sushma D, Richa S (2015) Use of nanoparticles in water treatment: a review. Int Res J Environ Sci 4:103–106
Qu X, Alvarez PJJ, Li Q (2013) Applications of nanotechnology in water and wastewater treatment. Water Res 47:3931–3946
Chalew TEA, Ajmani GS, Huang H, Schwab KJ (2013) Evaluating nanoparticle breakthrough during drinking water treatment. Environ Health Perspect 121:1161–1166
Shirazi MRA, Shariati F, Keshavarz AK, Ramezanpour Z (2015) Toxic effect of aluminum oxide nanoparticles on green micro-algae Dunaliella salina. Int J Environ Res 9:585–594
Tanada S, Kabayama M, Kawasaki N, Sakiyama T, Nakamura T, Araki M, Tamura T (2003) Removal of phosphate by aluminum oxide hydroxide. J Colloid Interface Sci 257:135–140
Kamika I, Tekere M (2017) Impacts of cerium oxide nanoparticles on bacterial community in activated sludge. AMB Express 7:1–11
Dong Y, He K, Yin L, Zhang A (2007) A facile route to controlled synthesis of Co3O4 nanoparticles and their environmental catalytic properties. Nanotechnology 18:1–6
Chang W, Shena Y, Xiea A, Tong W (2009) Preparation of Al2O3 supported nanoCu2O catalysts for the oxidative treatment of industrial wastewater. Russ J Phys Chem A 83:2308–2312
Luo J, Steier L, Son MK, Schreier M, Mayer MT, Grätzel M (2016) Cu2O nanowire photocathodes for efficient and durable solar water splitting. Nano Lett 16:1848–1857
Mao P, Qi L, Liu X, Liu Y, Jiao Y, Chen S, Yang Y (2017) Synthesis of Cu/Cu2O hydrides for enhanced removal of iodide from water. J Hazard Mater 328:21–28
McDonald KJ, Reddy KJ, Singh N, Singh RP, Mukherjee S (2015) Removal of arsenic from groundwater in West Bengal, India using CuO nanoparticle adsorbent. Environ Earth Sci 73:3593–3601
Miao L, Wang C, Hou J, Wang P, Ao Y, Li Y, Yao Y, Lv B, Yang Y, You G, Xu Y, Gu Q (2017) Response of wastewater biofilm to CuO nanoparticle exposure in terms of extracellular polymeric substances and microbial community structure. Sci Total Environ 579:588–597
Sukuda T, Tsunoyama H, Sakurai H (2011) Aerobic oxidations catalysed by colloidal nanogold. Chem Asian J 6:736–748
Herves P, Perez-Lorenzo M, Liz-Marzan LM, Dzubiella J, Lu Y, Ballauff M (2012) Catalysis by metallic nanoparticles in aqueous solution: model reactions. Chem Soc Rev 41:5577–5587
Environmental Protection Agency (2008) National primary drinking water regulations and contaminant candidate list. USEPA. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/dwstandardsregulations
Wong MS, Alvarez PJJ, Fang YL, Akcin N, Nutt MO, Miller JT, Heck KN (2009) Cleaner water using bimetallic nanoparticle catalysts. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 84:158–166
Nutt MO, Hughes JB, Wong MS (2005) Designing Pd-on-Au bimetallic nanoparticle catalysts for trichloroethene hydrodechlorination. Environ Sci Technol 39:1346–1353
Nutt MO, Heck KN, Alvarez P, Wong MS (2006) Improved Pd-on-Au bi metallic nanoparticle catalysts for aqueous-phase trichloroethene hydrodechlorination. Appl Catal B Environ 69:115–125
Fang Y-L, Heck KN, Alvarez PJJ, Wong MS (2011) Kinetics analysis of palladium/gold nanoparticles as colloidal hydrodechlorination catalysts. ACS Catal 1:128–138
Wu Y, Li Z, Chen J, Yu C, Huang X, Zhao C, Duan L, Yang Y, Lu W (2015) Graphene nanosheets decorated with tunable magnetic nanoparticles and their efficiency of wastewater treatment. Mater Res Bull 68:234–239
Tabassum A, Sunita D, Raj MS (2014) Antibacterial effect of magnesium oxide nanoparticle on water contaminated with E.coli. Res Rev J Microbiol Biotechnol 3:10–13
Srivastavaa V, Sharmab YC, Sillanpaa M (2015) Green synthesis of magnesium oxide nanoflower and its application for the removal of divalent metallic species from synthetic wastewater. Ceram Int 41:6702–6709
Kovenklioglu S, Cao Z, Shah D, Farrauto RJ, Balko EN (1992) Direct catalytic hydride chlorination of toxic organics in wastewater. AICHE J 38:1003–1012
Lowry GV, Reinhard M (2000) Pd-catalyzed TCE dechlorination in groundwater: solute effects, biological control, and oxidative catalyst regeneration. Environ Sci Technol 34:3217–3223
Parekh A (2013) Use of magnetic nanoparticles for wastewater treatment. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.
Asrarian R, Jadidian R, Parham H, Haghtalab S (2014) Removal of Aluminum from water and wastewater using magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. Adv Mater Res 829:752–756
Xu Y, Li C, Zhu X, Huang WE, Zhang D (2014) Application of magnetic nanoparticles in drinking water purification. Environ Eng Manag J 13:2023–2029
Peng Q, Liu Y, Zeng G, Xu W, Yang C, Zhang J (2010) Biosorption of copper(II) by immobilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae, on the surface of chitosan coated magnetic nanoparticles from aqueous solution. J Hazard Mater 177:676–682
Aftabtalab A, Sadabadi H, Chakra CHS, Rao KV, Shaker S, Mahofa EP (2014) Magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4) synthesis for removal of Chromium (VI) from wastewater. IJSER 5:1419–1423
Butt RS, Nazir R, Khan MN, Hamid A, Deeba F (2014) Treatment of electroplating industry wastewater using iron nanoparticle doped spent tea waste charcoal. JBES 5:7–17
Shen YF, Tang J, Nie ZH, Wang YD, Ren Y, Zuo L (2009) Preparation and application of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles for wastewater purification. Sep Purif Technol 68:312–319
Gill SK, Singh G, Khatri M (2017) Synthesis and characterization of super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for water purification applications. IJETSR 4:355–359
Ehrampoush MH, Miria M, Salmani MH, Mahvi AH (2015) Cadmium removal from aqueous solution by green synthesis iron oxide nanoparticles with tangerine peel extract. J Environ Health Sci Eng 13:1–7
Ding H, Li J, Gao Y, Zhao D, Shi D, Mao G, Liu S, Tan X (2015) Preparation of silica nanoparticles from waste silicon sludge. Powder Technol 284:231–236
Iqbal M, Purkait TK, Goss GG, Bolton JR, El-Din MG, Veinot JGC (2016) Application of engineered Si nanoparticles in light-induced advanced oxidation remediation of a water-borne model contaminant. ACS Nano 10:5405–5412
Jabna KK, Meera V (2017) Nanosilver as antimicrobial agent in treatment of water/wastewater. IJIRSE 3:399–406
Dankovich TA, Gray DG (2011) Bactericidal paper impregnated with silver nanoparticles for point-of-use water treatment. Environ Sci Technol 45:1992–1998
Zhang H (2013) Application of silver nanoparticles in drinking water purification. University of Rhode Island, Kingston, USA, pp 1–200
Mondal K, Sharma A (2014) Photocatalytic oxidation of pollutant dyes in wastewater by TiO2 and ZnO nano-materials – a mini-review. In: Mishra A, Bellare JR (eds) Nanoscience & technology for mankind. The National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, India, pp 36–72
Shahmoradi B, Ibrahim IA, Sakamoto N, Ananda S, Somashekar R, Row TNG, Byrappa K (2010) Photocatalytic treatment of municipal wastewater using modified neodymium doped TiO2 hybrid nanoparticles. J Environ Sci Health A 45:1248–1255
Sthathatos E, Tsiourvas D, Lianos P (1999) Titanium dioxide films made from reverse micelles and their use for the photocatalytic degradation of adsorbed dyes. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 149:49–56
Zhang K, Kemp KC, Chandra V (2012) Homogenous anchoring of TiO2 nanoparticles on graphene sheets for wastewater treatment. Mater Lett 81:127–130
Lazar MA, Varghese S, Nair SS (2012) Photocatalytic water treatment by titanium dioxide: recent updates. Catalysts 2:572–601
Banerjee P, Das D, Mitra P, Sinha M, Dey S, Chakrabarti S (2014) Solar photocatalytic treatment of wastewater with zinc oxide nanoparticles and its ecotoxicological impact on Channa punctatus –a freshwater fish. J Mat Environ Sci 5:1206–1213
Otero-Gonzalez L, Field JA, Sierra-Alvarez R (2014) Fate and long term inhibitory impact of ZnO nanoparticles during high rate anaerobic wastewater treatment. J Environ Manag 135:110–117
Ma R, Levard C, Judy JD, Unrine JM, Durenkamp M, Martin B, Jefferson B, Lowry GV (2014) Fate of zinc oxide and silver nanoparticles in a pilot wastewater treatment plant and in processed biosolids. Environ Sci Technol 48:104–112
Elmi F, Alinezhad H, Moulana Z, Salehian F, Tavakkoli SM, Asgharpour F, Fallah H, Elmi MM (2014) The use of antibacterial activity of ZnO nanoparticles in the treatment of municipal wastewater. Water Sci Technol 70:763–770
Puay N-Q, Qiu G, Ting Y-P (2015) Effects of ZnO nanoparticles on biological wastewater treatment in a sequencing batch reactor. J Clean Prod 88:1–7
Sirisha SAD, Mary A (2016) Green synthesis of nanoparticle of zinc and treatment of nanobeads for wastewater of alizarin red dye. Int J Environ Res Develop 6:11–16
Lamba R, Umar A, Mehta SK, Kansal SK (2015) ZnO doped SnO2 nanoparticles heterojunction photo-catalyst for environmental remediation. J Alloys Compd 653:327–333
Su Y, Cui H, Li Q, Gao S, Shang JK (2013) Strong adsorption of phosphate by amorphous zirconium oxide nanoparticles. Water Res 47:5018–5026
Mahmoud ME, Abdelwahab MS, Fathallah EM (2013) Design of novel nano-sorbents based on nano-magnetic iron oxide–bound-nano-silicon oxide–immobilized-triethylenetetramine for implementation in water treatment of heavy metals. Chem Eng J 223:318–327
Ruzmanova Y, Stoller M, Chianese A (2013) Photocatalytic treatment of olive mill wastewater by magnetic core titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Chem Eng Trans 32:2269–2274
Mahdavi S, Jalali M, Afkhami A (2013) Heavy metals removal from aqueous solutions using TiO2, MgO, and Al2O3 nanoparticles. Chem Eng Commun 200:448–470
Daniel SCGK, Malathi S, Balasubramanian S, Sivakumar M, Sironmani TA (2014) Multifunctional silver, copper and zero valent iron metallic nanoparticles for wastewater treatment. In: Mishra AK (ed) Application of nanotechnology in water research. Wiley, Hoboken, pp 435–457
Wang T, Zhang D, Dai L, Chen Y, Dai X (2016) Effects of metal nanoparticles on methane production from waste-activated sludge and microorganism community shift in anaerobic granular sludge. Sci Rep 6:1–10
Yang Y, Zhang C, Hu Z (2013) Impact of metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles on wastewater treatment and anaerobic digestion. Environ Sci Proc Imp 15:39–48
Dawson A, Kamat PV (2001) Semiconductor-metal nanocomposites. Photoinduced fusion and photocatalysis of gold-capped TiO2 (TiO2/gold) nanoparticles. J Phys Chem B 105:960–966
Subramanian V, Wolf EE, Kamat PV (2004) Catalysis with TiO2/gold nanocomposites. Effect of metal particle size on the fermi level equilibration. J Am Chem Soc 126:4943–4950
Arabatzis IM, Stergiopoulos T, Andreeva D, Kitova S, Neophytides SG, Falaras P (2003) Characterization and photocatalytic activity of Au/TiO2 thin films for azo-dye degradation. J Catal 220:127–135
Orlov A, Jefferson D, Macleod N, Lambert R (2004) Photocatalytic properties of TiO2 modified with gold nanoparticles in the degradation of 4-chlorophenol in aqueous solution. Catal Lett 92:41–47
Heck KN, Nutt MO, Alvarez P, Wong MS (2009) Deactivation resistance of Pd/Au nanoparticle catalysts for water-phase hydrodechlorination. J Catal 267:97–104
Teevs L, Vorlop KD, Prube U (2011) Model study on the aqueous-phase hydrodechlorination of clopyralid on noble metal catalysts. Catal Commun 14:96–100
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ahmad, I.Z., Ahmad, A., Tabassum, H., Kuddus, M. (2017). Applications of Nanoparticles in the Treatment of Wastewater. In: MartÃnez, L., Kharissova, O., Kharisov, B. (eds) Handbook of Ecomaterials. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48281-1_37-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48281-1_37-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48281-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48281-1
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering