Exploring the potential of waste biomass-derived pectin and its functionalized derivatives for water treatment

Environmental pollution remains a constant challenge due to the indiscriminate use of fossil fuels, mining activities, chemicals, drugs, aromatic compounds, pesticides, etc. Many emerging pollutants with no fixed standards for monitoring and control are being reported. These have adverse impacts on human life and the environment around us. This alarms the wastewater management towards developing materials that can be used for bulk water treatment and are easily available, low cost, non-toxic and biodegradable. Waste biomass like pectin is extracted from fruit peels which are a discarded material. It is used in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications but its application as a material for water treatment is very limited in literature. The scientific gap in literature review reports are evident with discussion only on pectin based hydrogels or specific pectin derivatives for some applications. This review focuses on the chemistry, extraction, functionalization and production of pectin derivatives and their applications in water treatment processes. Pectin functionalized derivatives can be used as a flocculant, adsorbent, nano biopolymer, biochar, hybrid material, metal-organic frameworks, and scaffold for the removal of heavy metals, ions, toxic dyes, and other contaminants. The huge quantum of pectin biomass may be explored further to strengthen environmental sustainability and circular economy practices.