Page 92 - Industrial Wastewater Treatment, Recycling and Reuse

Industrial Wastewater Treatment, Recycling, and Reuse: An Overview 67

have been undertaken so far for industrial wastewater treatment. Nanode-
position of materials such as titanium dioxide and zinc sulfide has potential
for use as a photocatalyst for removal of harmful pollutants from the waste-
waters. Two of the important applications in this area include removal of
dyes from the wastewaters and treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater
containing specialty molecules. Newer materials in the form of carbon nano-
tubes/nanofibers are also commercially available as adsorbents and can find
increasing use in this area. Further development in the area of nanocompo-
sites also holds a lot of potential for future applications. An increasing number
of studies have been reported in recent years on the application of nanoma-
terials, such as silver nanoparticles for the removal of mercury (Sumesh et al.,
2011); cellulose-manganese nanocomposite for removal of lead (Maliyekkal
et al., 2010); and iron oxide nanoparticles for removal of metal ions (Shen
et al., 2009). Adsorption technology using nanoparticles for the treatment
of wastewaters containing inorganic pollutants such as metals, Cd, Co,
Cu, and others, apart from the removal of organic pollutants in dyes and pes-
ticides, has been reviewed by Imran (2012), Ali et al. (2012). However, com-
mercial applications of this technology in wastewater treatment is still largely
lacking, mainly due to the fact that not much information is available on
materials handling and application, and potential health and environmental
effects, apart from life cycle analysis of the processes and materials on a
commercial level.

1.7 ADVANCED MODELING FOR WATER TREATMENT

Apart from developing newer methods for treating industrial wastewater,
there is an increasing trend of using advanced computational modeling
for developing better water treatment solutions. Advanced computational
models play a crucial role in achieving these objectives. Typically, advanced
models are applied to:
• Get more out of existing assets
• Reduce spatial footprint
• Reduce capital costs for new assets
• Conform to new efficiency and environmental norms
• Plan for “off design” operating points/sudden changes
• Reduce the cost of treatment.
Various advanced models are used to achieve these objectives. Broadly, these
models may be classified in two categories: