Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University, 98009 Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University, 98009 Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia. Electronic address: mubarak.mujawar@curtin.edu.my
  • 3 Graphene & Advanced 2D Materials Research Group (GAMRG), School of Science and Technology, Sunway University, No. 5, Jalan University, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 Petroleum, and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Brunei, Brunei Darussalam
  • 5 Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, Jalan Sunsuria, Bandar Sunsuria, 43900 Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 6 Department of Chemical Process Engineering, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 7 School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
  • 8 Department of Chemical Engineering, Dawood University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi 74800, Pakistan
J Hazard Mater, 2021 07 05;413:125375.
PMID: 33930951 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125375

Abstract

Industrial effluents contain several organic and inorganic contaminants. Among others, dyes and heavy metals introduce a serious threat to drinking waterbodies. These pollutants can be noxious or carcinogenic in nature, and harmful to humans and different aquatic species. Therefore, it is of high importance to remove heavy metals and dyes to reduce their environmental toxicity. This has led to an extensive research for the development of novel materials and techniques for the removal of heavy metals and dyes. One route to the removal of these pollutants is the utilization of magnetic carbon nanotubes (CNT) as adsorbents. Magnetic carbon nanotubes hold remarkable properties such as surface-volume ratio, higher surface area, convenient separation methods, etc. The suitable characteristics of magnetic carbon nanotubes have led them to an extensive search for their utilization in water purification. Along with magnetic carbon nanotubes, the buckypaper (BP) membranes are also favorable due to their unique strength, high porosity, and adsorption capability. However, BP membranes are mostly used for salt removal from the aqueous phase and limited literature shows their applications for removal of heavy metals and dyes. This study focuses on the existence of heavy metal ions and dyes in the aquatic environment, and methods for their removal. Various fabrication approaches for the development of magnetic-CNTs and CNT-based BP membranes are also discussed. With the remarkable separation performance and ultra-high-water flux, magnetic-CNTs, and CNT-based BP membranes have a great potential to be the leading technologies for water treatment in future.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.