Abstract
In the present era of scarcity of water resources, effective treatment of wastewater is a major prerequisite for growing economy. It is critical to develop and implement advanced wastewater treatment technologies with high efficiency and low capital requirement. Among various treatments, recent advanced processes in nano-material sciences have been attracting the attention of scientists. However, limited collective knowledge is available in this context. The present manuscript reviews the potential developments in nanotechnology with respect to wastewater treatment. The article reviewed and discussed utilization of various classes of nano-materials for wastewater treatment processes. This includes four main classes; First, nano-adsorbents such as activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, grapheme, manganese oxide, zinc oxide, titanium oxide, magnesium oxide and ferric oxides that are usually applied for removal of heavy metals from the wastewater. Second, nano-catalysts such as photocatalyst, electrocatalyst, Fenton based catalyst, and chemical oxidant have been shown the potential for removing both organic and inorganic contaminants. Third, nano-membranes have been used for effective removal of dyes, heavy metals and foulants using carbon nanotube membranes, electrospun nanofibers and hybrid nano-membranes. Finally, the integration of nanotechnology with biological processes such as algal membrane bioreactor, anaerobic digestion and microbial fuel cell is discussed with respect to its potential for wastewater purification.