Scientific Research and Essays Vol. 1 (2), 033-037, November 2006          
ISSN 1992-2248 © 2006 Academic Journals

Review

Agricultural products and by-products as a low cost adsorbent for heavy metal removal from water and wastewater: A review

Upendra Kumar

Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Silchar 788 010, Assam, India. E-mail: upendra_kumar72@rediffmail.com.

Accepted 25 October, 2006

The use of agricultural products and by-products has been widely investigated as a replacement for current costly methods of removing heavy metals from water and wastewater. Some of the agricultural materials can be effectively used as a low-cost sorbent. Modification of agricultural by-product could enhance their natural capacity and add value to the by-product. In this review, an extensive list of sorbent literature has been compiled to provide a summary of available information on a wide range of low-cost agricultural product and by-product sorbent and their modification for removing heavy metals from water and wastewater.

Key words: Agricultural products, adsorbent, low cost, heavy metals, water, wastewater.