Application and mechanism of carbonate material in the treatment of heavy metal pollution: a review

Among the many heavy metal pollution treatment agents, carbonate materials show strong flexibility and versatility by virtue of their high adsorption capacity for heavy metals and the characteristics of multiple and simple modification methods. It shows good potential for development. This review summarizes the application of carbonate materials in the treatment of heavy metal pollution according to the research of other scholars. It mainly relates to the application of surface-modified, activated, and nano-sized carbonate materials in the treatment of heavy metal pollution in water. Natural carbonate minerals and composite carbonate minerals solidify and stabilize heavy metals in soil. Solidification of heavy metals in hazardous waste solids is by MICP. There are four aspects of calcium carbonate oligomers curing heavy metals in fly ash from waste incineration. The mechanism of treating heavy metals by carbonate in different media was discussed. However, in the complex environment where multiple types of pollutants coexist, questions on how to maintain the efficient processing capacity of carbonate materials and how to use MICP to integrate heavy metal fixation and seepage prevention in solid waste base under complex and changeable natural environment deserve our further consideration. In addition, the use of carbonate materials for the purification of trace radioactive wastewater and the safe treatment of trace radioactive solid waste are also worthy of further exploration.