Utilizations of agricultural waste as adsorbent for the removal of contaminants: A review.

Abstract In recent years, various industrial activities have caused serious pollution to the environment. Due to the low operating costs and high flexibility, adsorption is considered as one of the most effective technologies for pollutant management. Agricultural waste has loose and porous structures, and contains functional groups such as the carboxyl group and hydroxyl group, so it can be invoked as biological adsorption material. Agricultural waste gets the advantages of a wide range of sources, low cost, and renewable. It has a good prospect for the comprehensive utilization of resources when used for environmental pollution control. This article summarized the current research status of agricultural waste in adsorbing pollutants, which pointed out the influencing factors of adsorption, expounded the adsorption mechanism of biological adsorption and introduced the related parameters of adsorption, proposed the application of adsorbents in engineering including adsorption in liquid and gas phases, at the same time it gave the future development prospect of agricultural waste as adsorbent. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Summarized the research progress of adsorbing inorganics, organics and gases on agricultural wastes. • Expounded the mechanism of adsorption inorganics and organics by agricultural wastes. • The application of agricultural waste as adsorbents in engineering was introduced. • Future prospects of agricultural wastes as adsorbents were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]