This study explores adsorptive removal measures to shed light on current water treatment innovations for kinetic/isotherm models and their applications to antibiotic pollutants using a broad range of biomass-based adsorbents.

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Modification of the adsorbent surfaces has been considered a fascinating strategy that enhances biomass-based adsorption properties for efficient removal of organic pollutants. This is based on the attempt to replace the cost-ineffectiveness of the commercial activated carbon. The present study discusses different modification strategies and a review on modified biomass materials for the sorption of organic contaminants. Unlike previous literatures in the field, wider range of these pollutants are discussed in this study under different categories including pesticides (such as insecticides, herbicides, fungicides), pharmaceutical (e.g. analgesic and antipyretic drugs, antibiotic drugs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antimalaria drugs), and dyes (e.g. azo, xanthene, miscellaneous diagnostic, tri-aryl methane, and phenol-derived polymeric dyes). It was observed that the acid-activated Posidonia oceanica and HNO3-modified rice husk displayed the highest and lowest adsorption capacities of 2681.9 and 0.35 mg/g for removing Rhodamine B dye and methyl parathion pesticide, respectively. The mechanistic aspects of organic pollutants adsorption, their corresponding regeneration studies, and environmental challenges with chemical modifications are also discussed. The use of computational (optimization) models for modified biomass-based adsorbents to remove organic pollutants is devoid in previous reviews but discussed in the present study. To foster more advancement in this field, the concluding part presents various challenges and knowledge gaps for furthering research towards more realistic industrial implementations.

The zinc oxide nanoparticle was synthesized via precipitation method. It was characterized using SEM-EDX, FTIR and TEM for morphology, elemental, functional groups and internal structure respectively. The physicochemical behaviour of a refinery effluent was assessed. The untreated raw refinery effluent from the point of discharge contained very high concentrations of pollutants for all the parameters, ranging between, pH (6.52-6.82), Turbidity (10-12 NTU), conductivity (266-289μs/cm), COD (116-138 mg/l), BOD (14-18.5 mg/l), DO (7.5-15.6 mg/l), TDS (436-486 mg/l), TSS (127-133 mg/l), Oil and grease (14.8-16.3 mg/l), sulphate (113-125 mg/l) and chloride (240-280 mg/l). The effluent was treated with ZnO nanoparticle and reduced the pollutants to the normal permissible limit set by WHO, FEPA and NESREA standard for portable water. The treated effluent sample showed values ranging between, pH (6.55-6.6), Turbidity (4.2-4.5 NTU), conductivity (245-246 μs/cm), COD (39-40 mg/l), BOD (10 mg/l), DO (5.6-10.4 mg/l), TDS (151-183 mg/l), TSS (24-28 mg/l), Oil and grease (7.3-9.5 mg/l), sulphate (100 mg/l) and chloride (200 mg/l). The heavy metals profile that was investigated are Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd and Cr of which were found above the WHO and FEPA permissible limit, however, on the contact with the adsorbent therefore reduced the metals to the permissible limit. It can be ascertain that ZnO nanoparticle can be used as an effective adsorbent for the treatment of petrochemical effluent.