review · Environmental Technology Reviews
Rapid industrialisation and urban growth continue to generate substantial amounts of poorly treated wastewater, challenging conventional treatment facilities that can be costly and inefficient. In response, natural bio-adsorbents present an accessible, low-cost alternative. Azolla filiculoides, a common free-floating aquatic fern, demonstrates significant capabilities for extracting both organic and inorganic pollutants, including toxic metal ions, from contaminated water. Its biomass features a maximum specific surface area reaching 484 square metres per gram, offering abundant binding sites for diverse contaminants. Existing assessments indicate that adsorption behaviours align closely with Langmuir and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, while thermodynamic analyses confirm that these adsorption processes occur spontaneously and remain feasible. Although studies have investigated desorption, kinetics, and material reclamation, further work is required to overcome current operational limitations and fully realise the practical deployment of this plant waste in sustainable water treatment systems.
Traditional industrial wastewater treatment often demands expensive infrastructure and chemicals. Using waste biomass from an abundant aquatic fern offers a sustainable, eco-friendly way to clean contaminated water. By capturing hazardous metal ions and other pollutants using natural materials, treatment facilities can cut costs while reducing the environmental impact of urban and industrial discharges.
This material could enable cheaper wastewater filtration systems for industrial operators and municipal treatment facilities looking to replace synthetic adsorbents. The research represents early-stage to applied exploratory work, as it compiles laboratory assessments of surface properties, kinetics, and desorption rather than full-scale operational trials. Scaling this technology requires resolving highlighted knowledge gaps around adsorbent reclamation and practical processing of the aquatic fern biomass.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have led to severe environmental pollution from the accumulation of wastewater and poorly treated or untreated industrial wastes. Traditional waste treatment methods are often expensive and ineffective in fully removing contaminants. As a result, there is a growing interest in exploring natural and cost-effective treatment systems. One such potential solution is the use of the aquatic fern, Azolla filiculoides Lam which has shown promise as a readily available, free-floating biomass that can effectively adsorb and remove metal ions and other pollutants from water. This review paper delves into the untapped potential of A. filiculoides bio-adsorbent, as a highly effective and eco-friendly solution for removing organic and inorganic pollutants from wastewater. The review also identified future research opportunities and recognised existing limitations in our understanding of A. filiculoides for wastewater treatment. Various aspects of its efficiency, including equilibrium isotherm, kinetics, thermodynamics, desorption, and adsorbent reclamation, have been studied. The research highlights A. filiculoides's impressive maximum specific surface area of 484 m²/g, enabling it to adsorb a wide range of contaminants effectively. Among the studied adsorption models, Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models best described the adsorption phenomena on this bio-adsorbent. Thermodynamic evaluations further confirm that its waste can be utilised to construct feasible and spontaneous adsorption systems for efficient pollutant removal. It shows great promise as a bio-adsorbent to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of wastewater pollution promoting sustainable water management practices. Further research and application of A. filiculoides in wastewater treatment could lead to substantial environmental benefits.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.1080/21622515.2024.2354126
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.
