NANOTECHNOLOGY IN AUTOMOTIVE WASTEWATER REMEDIATION: FUNCTIONAL, ROLES, DRAWBACKS AND FUTURE PROSPECT

Abstract

An estimated 2.73×10¹² gallons of water is generated in the automotive sector annually, and pollutants-free water from this sector is essential for a safe environmental footprint impact for various applications since wastewater causes corrosion, equipment blockages, and chemical costs increment. Grease and Oils are one of the major constituents of wastewater from automotive sector. Average water-contaminant loads, including grease and oil (1100 mg/L), COD (4500 mg/L), overall suspended solids (3500 mg/L) create some level of health risk, and treatment methods have shifted from the physical techniques of gravity separation and dissolved air flotation, and demulsification which involves nanotechnology to hybridization. With a per-wash prediction of globally in use vehicles in 2015, 218 billion litres of wastewater runs off to potential water stream, initiating water-nanoparticle mobility before it can be treated for re-use. Nano-engineered materials, such as nano-adsorbents, nano-membranes and nano-catalysts are specifically deployed to overcome the limitations of conventional wastewater treatment methods based on their high surface to volume ratio, nanoscale size, organized structure and filtration competence due to their inherent mechanical, thermal, antifouling and antibacterial properties. Oil-based wastewater treated with magnetic sorbent nanoparticles act as emulsifiers, thereby containing microbes, and causing micro-organism infested wastewater, therefore, an effective means of treating such wastewater with varieties of compositions is by nanoenhanced bioremediation. Hence, a nanotechnology technique which fuses bioremediation and nano-remediation to achieve nano-enhanced bioremediation for a totally enhanced wastewater remediation is proposed to abate environmental pollution. Therefore, nanotechnology can transform several wastewater pollutants, such as particulate matter, heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, oil spills, toxic gases, industrial effluents, sewage, and organic compounds into harmless clean water for various utilizations.