Environmentally Benign Freeze-dried Biopolymer-Based Cryogels for Textile Wastewater Treatments: A review

Motivated by sustainability and environmental protection, great efforts have been paid towards water purification and attaining complete decolorization and detoxification of polluted water effluent. Textile effluent, the main participant in water pollution, is a complicated mixture of toxic pollutants which seriously impact human health and the entire ecosystem. Developing effective materials for potential removal of the water contaminants is urgent. Recently, cryogels have been applied in wastewater sectors due to their unique physiochemical attributes(e.g. high surface area, lightweight, porosity, swelling-deswelling, and high permeability). These features robustly affected the cryogel's performance, as adsorbent material, particularly in wastewater sectors. This review serves as a detailed reference to the cryogels derived from biopolymers and applied as adsorbents for the purification of textile drainage. We displayed an overview of: the existing contaminants in textile effluents (dyes and heavy metals), their sources, and toxicity; advantages and disadvantages of the most common treatment techniques (biodegradation, advanced chemical oxidation, membrane filtration, coagulation/flocculation, adsorption). A simple background about cryogels (definition, cryogelation technique, significant features as adsorbents, and the adsorption mechanisms) is also discussed. Finally, the bio-based cryogels dependent on biopolymers such as chitosan, xanthan, cellulose, PVA, and PVP, are fully discussed with evaluating their maximum adsorption capacity.