article · Separation and Purification Technology
Geopolymers extracted from natural resources are emerging as eco-friendly alternatives to conventional synthetic polymers, which present significant environmental hazards due to their slow degradation. These materials offer substantial potential across environmental remediation, particularly within wastewater treatment processes. Geopolymers and geopolymer composites can be synthesised from various precursors, and standard analytical methods are employed to assess their physical and chemical characteristics. In wastewater engineering, geopolymeric materials demonstrate utility across several functional treatment pathways, including adsorption, photocatalytic degradation, membrane filtration, and solidification or stabilisation. Integrating these materials into wastewater management aligns with circular economy frameworks, presenting viable options to minimise the ongoing accumulation of non-degradable chemical polymers in the biosphere while addressing industrial effluent contamination.
Widespread use of non-degradable synthetic polymers creates lasting pollution in global ecosystems and complicates the management of industrial effluent. Developing sustainable materials derived from natural resources helps mitigate environmental contamination. Employing geopolymers in wastewater remediation offers viable engineering routes to treat polluted water effectively while reducing reliance on persistent, environmentally damaging chemicals.
Geopolymer-based materials are relevant for industrial effluent remediation and municipal wastewater management. Water treatment facility operators and environmental engineering firms could deploy them across adsorption, filtration, photocatalytic breakdown, and waste stabilisation systems. Because this work is a review synthesising precursors, analytical methods, and broader treatment concepts rather than detailing a specific tested product, the technology across these combined pathways remains at an early to applied research stage.
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Over the past few decades, polymers have been extensively employed in various sectors attributed to their exceptional properties. The presence of vast quantities of non-degradable polymers in the environment, in addition to industrial effluents, has become one of the serious global issues. The chemically sourced polymers/composites are potentially hazardous to the biosphere due to their slow degradation mechanism. Currently, there is a growing interest in geopolymers as upcoming competitors over synthetic polymers, efficaciously extracted from natural resources. These environment-substitutes geopolymers are exceptionally beneficial in environmental applications, particularly wastewater treatment processes. Therefore, this review article comprehensively discusses the synthesis of geopolymers/composites from different precursors. The most prevalent analytical methods used to characterize geopolymers are discussed to get insights into their physico-chemical characteristics. Moreover, the potential of different wastewater treatment technologies using geopolymers-based materials (i.e., adsorption, photocatalytic degradation, membrane filtration, and solidification/stabilization pathway) is briefly discussed to highlight the developments in the engineering treatment processes. Furthermore, the circular economy model framework proposes potential approaches to applying circular economy principles in the wastewater management sector. Overall, geopolymers can be considered as promising materials, making strides in cutting down the dependency on non-degradable polymers in wastewater remediation.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2023.124631
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