Current Progress in Designing Environmental Adsorbents

What is it about?

Biomimetics and bioinspiration is one of the most progressive, recently developed science, that deals with nature and living systems in order to provide a sustainable life for future generations. With a more complex penetration into the inside of living organisms and understanding their functions, the ability to mimic nature has increased dramatically since several decades and thus nature-driven solutions have forwarded technological progress into a higher level. Nevertheless, the abovementioned discipline offers then substantial scientific portfolio for the development of current material chemistry, specifically for the novel and innovative adsorbent synthesis. It is supposed that basic constructional processes of matter like biomineralisation, biomimetics, supramolecular preorganisation or interfacial molecular recognition (templating) and other recently frequent techniques and new advanced adsorption materials contribute to the certain portfolio for potential Green Chemistry of future. Moreover, there is a gradual insistence that clean industrial production, water reuse and solid waste recycling provide a sustainable living to the next generations

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Why is it important?

Industrially utilized adsorbents are predominantly characterized with uniformly accessible pores, an interlinked pore system, a high surface area and physical and/or chemical stability. In general, most industrial adsorbents fall into one of the three classes, i.e. oxygen containing compounds, which are typically hydrophilic and polar adsorbents, such as silica gel, zeolites, clays, alumina; carbon-based compounds, which are typically hydrophobic and non-polar, such as activated carbon, carbonaceous materials, fullerenes, graphite and polymer-based adsorbents with polar or non-polar functional groups in a porous polymer matrix. It is generally known that long period of commercial activated carbon and synthetic ion exchange resins produced from petroleum-based raw materials and under not environmentally friendly processing, may slowly replace some alternative, probably nature mimic or waste products. Some of the very important features of such products or perspective potential adsorbents are characteristics of their functional groups, able to bind a broad range of environmental pollutants from contaminated media, however at a low cost. Many, more or less mainly developing countries, prefer now economically feasible and locally available natural materials such as chitosan, zeolites, clay and certain industrial or agricultural waste products, i.e. fly ash, low rank coal, lignite, natural metal oxides, peat, sawdust, waste slurry, lignine, shungite, coconut shell charcoal, waste biomass and cork (Quercus suber L.)

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