Use of Nano-Scale Materials in Water Treatment Application: Opportunities and Challenges

摘要

Water is one of the essential substances for living systems. Today, the world faces a shortage of supply of safe water in the coming years. Nanotechnology has been identified as a technology to hold the key to resolving problems surrounding water quality. This new technology has the potential to significantly affect environmental protection through understanding and control of emission from a wide of source, development of new “green ” technologies that minimize the production of undesirable byproducts, and remediation of existing waste sites and polluted water source. The present study attempts to explain the crucial role that nanotechnology will play with regard to increasing the availability of clean and reliable water sources. This article gives an overview of the use of nanotechnology in treatment of surface water, groundwater and industrial wastewater. In addition, we discuss some challenges associated with the development of cost effective and environmentally acceptable functional nano-scale materials for water purification.