Combinations of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology in Industrial Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

Wastewater treatment by effective and economical methods is an area of investigations in environmental research. Biotechnological methods are used in the treatment technologies commonly in the form of activated sludge and trickling filters. Nanomaterials for sorptive removal of pollutants have advantages like high surface area, selectivity, and percentage removal. Silver and iron nanoparticles are used for treatment of effluent for contaminant removal. Termed as green synthesis, these biotechnology-based synthesis methods are environment friendly and sustainable. Various treatment technics such as membrane bioreactors, photocatalysis, adsorption, etc., can be made more effective and customized for specific pollutant using nanotechnology approach. The combination of these two methods termed as nanobiotechnology and bionanotechnology, based on transfer of direction advantages, has potential to address the issue of many biological and nonbiological contaminants in wastewater which cannot be effectively removed by other advanced methods.