Nanofluids used for water/wastewater treatment--a mini review

Due to the rapid elevation of health standards and the limited water resources, decontamination and disinfection have become a challenging aspect of water/wastewater treatment. Traditional disinfection in water/wastewater treatment is associated with limitations, such as the production of toxic disinfection by-products. With the development of nanofluids, there is more and more interest in using nanofluids in environmental sectors, especially in water/wastewater treatment. Nanofluids are not strong oxidants and are not expected to produce harmful disinfection by-products. Nanofluids exhibit good disinfection properties against a wide range of bacteria, including Gram-negative, Gram-positive and spore bacteria. Several patents disclose the typically used types of nanofluids and their possible disinfection/ decontamination mechanisms. The use of different nanofluids and their applications in different water/wastewater treatment have also been reviewed in this paper.