Textile dye degradation using nano zero valent iron: A review

Water soluble unfixed dyes and inorganic salts are the major pollutants in textile dyeing industry wastewater. Existing treatment methods fail to degrade textile dyes and have limitations too. The inadequate treatment of textile dyeing wastewater is a major concern when effluent is directly discharged into the nearby environment. Long term disposal threatens the environment, which needs reclamation. This article reviews the current knowledge of nano zero valent iron (nZVI) technique in the degradation of textile dyes. The application of nZVI on textile dye degradation is receiving great attention in the recent years because nZVI particles are highly reactive towards the pollutant, less toxic, and economical. The nZVI particles aggregate quickly with respect to time and the addition of supports such as resin, nickel, zinc, bentonite, biopolymer, kaolin, rectorite, nickel-montmorillonite, bamboo, cellulose, biochar, graphene, and clinoptilolite enhanced the stability of iron nanoparticles. Inclusion of supports may in turn introduce additional toxic pollutants, hence green supports are recommended. The majority of investigations concluded dye color removal as textile dye compound removal, which is not factual. Very few studies monitored the removal of total organic carbon and observed the products formed. The results revealed that partial mineralization of the textile dye compound was achieved. Instead of stand alone technique, nZVI can be integrated with other suitable technique to achieve complete degradation of textile dye and also to treat multiple pollutants in the real textile dyeing wastewater. It is highly recommended to perform more bench-scale and pilot-scale studies to apply this technique to the textile effluent contaminated sites.