Impact of Nanomaterials on Waste Management: An Insight to the Modern Concept of Waste Abatement

Abstract

Nanotechnology is an evolving biotechnological innovation applied across different industrial sectors such as food safety, pharmaceutics, electronics and other different aspects. Nowadays interests have been made over its use in the maintenance of a sustainable environment mostly, in the field of waste management. Owing to their dimension (1–100 nm), the nanomaterials demonstrate a higher rate of oxidation/reduction reaction and catalysis of different organic or inorganic contaminants along with adsorption of different heavy metals and therefore emerged as an innovative tool in the dimension of eco-waste management. Mostly, iron-based such as zero-valent iron (nZVI), titanium oxides and carbon-based (carbon nanotubes) are used by the environment protection industry. nZVI is widely used in mitigation of nitrate contamination from wastewater streams, whereas titanium dioxide is mostly used in heavy metal absorption. Since these nanomaterials are highly photosensitive, hence upon U.V. stimulation it leads to the generation of hydroxyl radicals which can oxidize different organic contaminants. Nanomaterials are widely used in the preparation of nanocomposite membranes which increase the filtration properties of the membrane and thereby increase water permeability along with the reduction of metal load. Such technologies are further supplemented with microorganisms impregnated with the principles of bioremediation for the effective removal of the environmental contaminants. Different ecotoxicological studies have revealed the harmful possessions of nanoparticles on mammalian cell and aquatic organisms like fish, zooplanktons, etc. The utilization of nanotechnology in waste management is gaining momentum owing to its unique properties and higher compatibility with different conventional technologies. It is highly recommended that the proper choice of nanomaterials is going to be an effective measure of waste management. However, high production costs and different ecotoxicological effects limit their application. The present research study tries to illustrate the fate of different nanomaterials in multifarious dimensions including their efficiency, limitations, potential toxicity, etc. and opens up a new horizon in the implementation of nanomaterials for sustainable waste management.