Removal of Heavy Metals from Waste-water of Sugar Industries, Using Low Cost Natural Adsorbents

Abstract

Heavy metals are observed to be the major toxic pollutants and responsible for severe adverse effects upon the human health. Heavy metals are very often released into the open drains along with the waste water after the various chemical processing units of the industries. Some of the heavy metals generate the very adverse effects on human health due to their acute exposure existing nearby areas’ people through air, water as well as food chain. The existing conventional methods for the treatment of heavy metals have their own limitations due to high cost and ineffectiveness along with second effect causers too. Natural adsorbents are used as an attractive cum potential alternative to their conventional methods. It is also considered as an economic solution to problem of the high cost treatment problem. Today, sugar industry is considered as one of the most polluting industries to the environment. As, it produces a large amount contaminated waste water which is used and then released into the open drains without proper treatment, reason for such practices is the high cost of proper treatment of industrial waste water. That’s why, natural low cost adsorbents can play a vital role to maintain a control over the contaminated untreated waste water generating or releasing from various units of the chemical processing in sugar industries.