Valorisation of post-sorption materials: Opportunities, strategies, and challenges

D Harikishore Kumar Reddy; K Vijayaraghavan; Jeong Ae Kim; Yeoung-Sang Yun

doi:10.1016/j.cis.2016.12.002

Valorisation of post-sorption materials: Opportunities, strategies, and challenges

Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2017 Apr:242:35-58. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2016.12.002. Epub 2016 Dec 12.

Authors

D Harikishore Kumar Reddy¹, K Vijayaraghavan², Jeong Ae Kim¹, Yeoung-Sang Yun³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonbuk 561-756, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
³ Division of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonbuk 561-756, Republic of Korea; Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonbuk 561-756, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: ysyun@jbnu.ac.kr.

PMID: 28256201
DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2016.12.002

Abstract

Adsorption is a facile, economic, eco-friendly and low-energy requiring technology that aims to separate diverse compounds (ions and molecules) from one phase to another using a wide variety of adsorbent materials. To date, this technology has been used most often for removal/recovery of pollutants from aqueous solutions; however, emerging post-sorption technologies are now enabling the manufacture of value-added key adsorption products that can subsequently be used for (i) fertilizers, (ii) catalysis, (iii) carbonaceous metal nanoparticle synthesis, (iv) feed additives, and (v) biologically active compounds. These new strategies ensure the sustainable valorisation of post-sorption materials as an economically viable alternative to the engineering of other green chemical products because of the ecological affability, biocompatibility, and widespread accessibility of post-sorption materials. Fertilizers and feed additives manufactured using sorption technology contain elements such as N, P, Cu, Mn, and Zn, which improve soil fertility and provide essential nutrients to animals and humans. This green and effective approach to managing post-sorption materials is an important step in reaching the global goals of sustainability and healthy human nutrition. Post-sorbents have also been utilized for the harvesting of metal nanoparticles via modern catalytic pyrolysis techniques. The resulting materials exhibited a high surface area (>1000m²/g) and are further used as catalysts and adsorbents. Together with the above possibilities, energy production from post-sorbents is under exploration. Many of the vital 3E (energy, environment, and economy) problems can be addressed using post-sorption materials. In this review, we summarize a new generation of applications of post-adsorbents as value-added green chemical products. At the end of each section, scientific challenges, further opportunities, and issues related to toxicity are discussed. We believe this critical evaluation not only delivers essential contextual information to researchers in the field but also stimulates new ideas and applications to further advance post-sorbent applications.

Keywords: Adsorption; Aqueous medium; Biosorption; Carbothermal synthesis; Catalysis; Exhausted sorbent; Feed-additives; Fertilizers; Nanoparticles; Post-adsorption; Post-sorbent; Spent sorbent; Water treatment.

Publication types

Review