article · Frontiers in Nanotechnology
Water contamination from industrial manufacturing, process streams, and production activities poses severe health and environmental hazards. Common outcomes include waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and diarrhoea, alongside the destruction of aquatic ecosystems. While nanotechnology provides methods for treating contaminated water, conventional approaches frequently rely on toxic inorganic nanomaterials that can leave treated water unsafe for humans and wildlife. Green, biogenically synthesised nanoparticles represent a potent and sustainable alternative to mitigate these secondary risks. Recent progress highlights several less common yet highly effective emerging green nanomaterials for wastewater remediation and purification. Assessing current developments, practical implementation challenges, and potential solutions demonstrates how biogenic nanoparticles can support safer, long-term water treatment systems while advancing sustainable development targets for health, clean water, and aquatic life.
Water pollution causes widespread illness and destroys aquatic ecosystems, yet advanced treatment methods often introduce toxic inorganic materials into the environment. Exploring the potential of green nanoparticles offers a cleaner path to purifying wastewater. Replacing hazardous materials with biogenic alternatives protects public health from contaminated water sources and safeguards freshwater and marine life against secondary chemical hazards.
The work focuses on wastewater treatment and water purification systems for municipal utilities, manufacturing plants, and industrial processing facilities seeking non-toxic remediation methods. The technology appears to be at an early stage of development, as the focus is on assessing emerging biogenic materials, current technical challenges, and future prospects rather than deploying a finalised commercial system.
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In many parts of the world, the availability of clean water is almost an impossible task owing to the intrusion of contaminants in flowing or stagnant streams which renders them unsafe for use by man. Water pollution is a serious environmental problem that poses serious dangers to humans, the environment and aquatic life. Also, the recent rise in the spate of emerging contaminants as well as bacteria in waters recovered from process streams, manufacturing and other production activities, have resulted in unforeseen consequences including environmental pollution, health related sicknesses (diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, skin irritations, lung infection, etc.) as well as loss and extinction of aquatic lives, hence, the need to consider viable methods of treating waste waters so as to render them safe for use by these organisms. This will in turn preserve life below water- SDG 14 as well as promote the use of clean water and a healthy environment- SDG 6. Among the several existing nanotechnologies tailored towards the treatment of wastewater, a couple of inorganic toxic nanomaterials/nanosubstances have been adopted which render such treated waters as potential risks to humans and aquatic lives. However, green nanoparticles are considered potent and viable means of treating these waters, especially when literature has it that some nanomaterials are toxic in nature. Furthermore, the paper also reports on some unpopular but very potent emerging green nanomaterials, alongside recent advances, applications, related challenges and ways to address them. Information on future prospects of green nanoparticles as potential long-term sustainable water purification and wastewater treatment technologies are also included; therefore, this study is focused on addressing issues related to SDGs 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing), 6 (clean water and sanitation), 12 (responsible consumption and production) and 14 (life below water).
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DOI: 10.3389/fnano.2024.1469309
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