Abstract
Access to clean and cheap water resources is the global challenge and is one of the United Nation’s Sustainable Developmental Goals. The problem is becoming overwhelming due to rapid increase in the world’s population, global climatic changes, high-energy demands, and municipal and industrial contamination that threaten the reservoirs and sustainable supply of freshwater. Agricultural activities on the other hand are drawing more and more freshwater and continue to contaminate the freshwater reservoirs. These and other factors continue to press the need for technological advancement to safeguard against the scarcity of freshwater.
Modern-day water treatment technologies demand new approaches and improved materials for water resource conservation and management. Along with other long-range industrial applications, nanotechnology has the promise to ensure sustainable availability of clean drinking water and conservation of water resources through applying advance materials and techniques for water purification, conservation, and reuse. Current advancements in nanotechnology indicate that the many problems related to water quality can be successfully addressed by applying nanomaterials in the form of adsorbents, catalysts and catalytic membranes for enhanced filtration. The nanotechnology can be used in the key areas of water purification separations, bioremediation, and water disinfection with significant cost reduction and creating new economic opportunities for developing and underdeveloped countries. In this chapter, we review recent advancements in nanotechnologies for water purification, future direction and practical challenges in their commercialization and potential risks associated with nanoscale water remediation.
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Ali, Z., Ahmad, R. (2020). Nanotechnology for Water Treatment. In: Dasgupta, N., Ranjan, S., Lichtfouse, E. (eds) Environmental Nanotechnology Volume 3. Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World, vol 27. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26672-1_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26672-1_5
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