review · Environmental Technology
Industrial growth generates rising volumes of wastewater contaminated with toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and nickel. While diverse techniques exist to cleanse aqueous solutions, adsorption is considered the most effective approach. However, conventional adsorption produces secondary waste that presents ecological risks. Repurposing agricultural waste by converting it into carbon nanomaterials coated with metal oxides provides an eco-friendly, abundantly available alternative for capturing these metal ions. Crucially, the resulting spent adsorbents can subsequently find a second life in forensic science, specifically within blood fingerprint detection. Exploring this dual-purpose pathway demonstrates how waste from environmental remediation can be revalorised into functional materials, offering opportunities to link pollution management with forensic applications while mitigating the environmental hazards traditionally associated with used filtration media.
Heavy metal pollution from industrial processes threatens aquatic ecosystems and human health. Finding low-cost, sustainable ways to cleanse water using agricultural residues tackles contamination at the source. Furthermore, finding practical secondary uses for contaminated waste materials, such as aiding criminal investigations through forensic fingerprint detection, reduces the volume of hazardous secondary waste entering the environment.
This concept targets industrial wastewater management and forensic investigation sectors. By turning abundant agricultural waste into specialised adsorbents and later forensic detection agents, it outlines a circular material pathway. Because the work reviews potential methods and prospects, the technology remains at an early research stage, requiring extensive development and validation before reaching real-world operational use.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
An increasing amount of water pollution is being caused by an increase in industrial activity. Recently, a wide range of methods, including extraction, chemical coagulation, membrane separation, chemical precipitation, adsorption, and ion exchange, have been used to remove heavy metals from aqueous solutions. The adsorption technique is believed to be the most highly effective method for eliminating heavy metals from wastewater among all of them. However, it generates secondary waste that can pose a risk to the environment. Agricultural waste has potential to be collected and converted into carbon nanomaterials, then coated with metal oxides for the removal of Pb<sup>2+</sup>, Cd<sup>2+</sup>, and Ni<sup>2+</sup> ions and then the reuse of heavy metal spent adsorbents in blood fingerprint detection (BFP) can be studied. This review highlights the eco-friendly nature and abundant availability of these materials while advocating for their integration into mainstream wastewater treatment practices. It explores the prospect of revalorizing spent adsorbents in blood fingerprint applications, demonstrating a dual-purpose utilisation that bridges environmental remediation with advancements forensic sciences. Different method of removal of Pb<sup>2+</sup>, Cd<sup>2+</sup> and Ni<sup>2+</sup>, removal technique as well as other reuse applications of spent adsorbents are also discussed.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2024.2358450
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
