Eradication of Water Pollutants by Biomass-Based Materials

Over the past decades, the discharge of a large amount of pollutants from various domestic and industrial sources into the aquatic environment has posed serious hazards to the ecosystem. Unfortunately, a major fraction of the available water resources has become contaminated with heavy metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, dyes, and other pollutants. Remediation using conventional physical, chemical, and physico-chemical methods is not positively adopted since they require huge operation and maintenance expenditures and also produce large volumes of chemical waste. Consequently, the use of adsorbents, particularly biomass, has received much attention as an effective approach for organic and inorganic pollutant removal across the environmental field. The biosorption abilities of biomass is specific to both living and dead organisms which influence the passive uptake of pollutants. A wide range of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, yeast, algae and biomass from plants can efficiently act as  biologically active methlators in reducing or at least modifying the toxicity of pollutants with its surprising array of mechanisms. The abundance of biomass types and low cost make them a promising eco-friendly candidate for a green clean sustainable environment. This chapter discusses on different aspects of the existing knowledge and application of various biomass in the removal of water pollutants in an effective and economical manner with a special emphasis on biochar production methods.