Water is a significant natural resource for humans. As such, wastewater containing heavy metals is seen as a grave problem for the environment. Currently, adsorption is one of the common methods used for both water purification and wastewater treatment. Adsorption relies on the physical and chemical interactions between heavy metal ions and adsorbents. Adsorptive membranes (AMs) have demonstrated high effectiveness in heavy metal removal from wastewater owing to their exclusive structural properties. This article examines the applications of adsorptive membranes such as polymeric membranes (PMs), polymer-ceramic membranes (PCMs), electrospinning nanofiber membranes (ENMs), and nano-enhanced membranes (NEMs), which demonstrate high selectivity and adsorption capacity for heavy metal ions, as well as both advantages and disadvantages of each one all, are summarized and compared shortly. Moreover, the general theories for both adsorption isotherms and adsorption kinetics are described briefly to comprehend the adsorption process. This work will be valuable to readers in understanding the current applications of various AMs and their mechanisms in heavy metal ion adsorption, as well as the recycling methods in heavy ions desorption process are summarized and described clearly. Besides, the influences of morphological and chemical structures of AMs are presented and described in detail as well.
Keywords: Adsorption; Adsorptive membrane; Electrospinning membrane; Heavy metal removal; Nano-enhanced membrane; Polymer-ceramic membrane; Polymeric membrane.