Use of biomass-derived adsorbents for the removal of petroleum pollutants from water: a mini-review

Abstract

Over the past decades, a large amount of petroleum pollutants has been released into the environment resulting from various activities related to petrochemicals. The discharge of wastewater with petrochemicals can pose considerable risk of harm to the human health and the environment. The use of adsorbents has received much consideration across the environmental field as an effective approach for organic pollutant removal. There is a particular interest in the use of biomass adsorbent as a promising environmentally-friendly and low-cost option for removing pollutants. In this article, we present a review of biomass-derived adsorbents for the removal of petroleum pollutants from water. The features of different adsorbents such as algae, fungi, and bacteria biomasses are summarized, as is the process of removing oil and PAHs using biomass-derived adsorbents. Finally, recommendations for future study are proposed.