Clay based nanocomposites for removal of heavy metals from water: A review

Abstract The exponential increment in world population, recent industrialization, civilization, agricultural and household activities leads to greater levels of water pollution in terms of organic and inorganic contaminants. However, numerous workers have done research for the removal of these pollutants and various types of clays and/or modified clays have been extensively used for this purpose. But all identified adsorbent materials are not able to remove pollutants after certain concentration and sometimes these contaminants are left as such in environment which may create other environmental issues. This paper presents comprehensive information for the adsorption of heavy metal ions from water and waste water using various nanostructured adsorbents such as different clay minerals (kaolinite, montmorillonite) and clay (bentonite), carbon nanotube and nanocomposites. In addition to this, the efficiency of developed materials for the removal of heavy metals is also discussed in details along with comparison of their adsorption efficiencies, pH and change in specific surface area, initial metal ion concentration and contact time. This paper also states the future directions which could be followed to challenge the situation of removal of traces of heavy metals from water, hence protecting water bodies from high pollution load.