Engineered adsorbents for the removal of contaminants of emerging concern from water

Abstract The successful use of physical separation via adsorption for the removal of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) from water ultimately will depend on the ability of designing the adsorbent from the bottom up to tailor its textural properties and surface functional groups to simultaneously target both the physical and chemical identities of the contaminants. In this chapter, we present and discuss various efforts made in this area for particular families of adsorbent materials, namely carbon-based zeolites, metal–organic frameworks, mesoporous silica, clays, and composites. Functionalization of these materials in attempts to enhance surface area, pore volume, and surface charging, as well as imparting combined hydrophobicity and specific surface interactions (other than electrostatic), and how these affect both CEC adsorption capacity and selectivity are thoroughly discussed.