Introduction
In particular, two issues – water shortage and water pollution – are the most significant problems of the modern world and have a negative impact on people’s health, food production, and the environment across the globe. Rise in industrial pollution, population growth, climate change etc the availability of clean water for human use has become a hard challenge. Conventional techniques of water purification can to some degree remove physical and organic, including suspended solid sediments but the affined and minute impurities like heavy metals, virus and chemical agents are not easily removed. However, over the period of years, nanotechnology has become popular in water filtration technologies. As a relatively new technology that involves the processing of materials at the Nano scale, this technology can pose the ability to enhance water purification through more selective, efficient and cost effective technologies. Due to the specific characteristics of nanomaterials, the water filtration systems show higher selectivity to the contaminants and can be considered as a potential solution for the approaching worldwide water issues (Savage, 2018).
Nanotechnology in water filtration
The applications of nanotechnology in water filtration involve dealing with substances which are smaller than 100 nanometers. Structural components at this scale also come with special physical, chemical, and biological characteristics that are not observed in the macro materials. This kind of behaviour is advantageous for nanomaterials in a filtration process because can interfere with contaminants on a molecular level. Carbon nanotubes, Nano fibers, and metal nanoparticles have been incorporated in such filtration systems to improve their capability in the removal of various pollutants ranging from bacteria and viruses to heavy metals and organic pollutants. Out of these materials, it is possible to design them specifically to filter certain pollutants, meaning that water filtration systems can reach a standard of purity that is very hard to get from standard filtration methods (Theron, 2018).
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are one of the fore front nanomaterials that have found application in water filtration. These tube-formed nanostructures are carbon-stage formations in a hexagonal prism shape that are characterized by their mechanical hardness, chemical inertness and electronic conduction. CNTs possess a very large surface area which makes them capable of adsorbing a large number of pollutants in water. Furthermore, almost all pollutants can be selectively filtered through the CNT membranes while the clean water can freely pass through the membrane. Due to their having a very small size they are able to capture smaller particles than those that can be captured through regular filtration systems due to their ability to capture viruses among other microorganisms (Qu, 2019).
Category of Nanomaterials Employed
Another category of nanomaterials employed for the water filtration process is silver nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles, famous for their spectacular antimicrobial characteristics are imposes as agents that destroys bacteria and virus in water using filtration systems. These nanoparticles dissolve the membranes in germ cells thus eliminating the harm they cause. Silver nanoparticles are a strong antimicrobial agent that does not require chemical compounds to enhance its efficiency and does not pose health hazards as those of chlorine which reacts with other chemicals to form biocide byproducts in water. Moreover, they also kill pathogens very effectively as compared to other nanoparticles and they are more effective at lower concentration, thus contributing plenty for modern water treatment systems (Shannon, 2019).
Nano fibrous membranes for water filtration
Nanotechnology also helps the advance filtration membranes by offering better filtration performances. For instance, Nano fibrous membranes for water filtration which can be developed from polymer Nano fibers have been identified to have high porosity, low resistance to water flow and huge surface area. These membranes can be created to have the pores as small as one nanometer in size so as to let water molecules to pass through while excluding pollutants. Application of Nano fibrous membranes in filtration has shown enhanced efficiency in the removal of pollutants such as heavy metals, organic compounds and bacteria than that of the conventional filtration membranes. Further, materials such as grapheme oxide have emerged as the most viable candidate for fabrication of highly preferential and proficient filtration membranes. Grapheme oxide membranes have demonstrated potential efficacy in the desalination process where a thin layer of the grapheme oxide functioned as a filter to remove salt and other contaminants from seawater thereby presenting a possible solution to the problem of scarcity of water in the deserts (Mauter, 2019).
Toxic metals that are commonly found in water
The toxic metals that are commonly found in water are lead, mercury and arsenic which have latent adverse health impacts even at very low concentration levels. Other conventional filtration techniques have always found it difficult to filter these metals especially when they are present in an almost negligible concentration. Nanotechnology provides a solution of using nanoparticle which include iron oxide and titanium dioxide which have high adsorption capacity for the heavy metals. Such nanoparticles can be incorporated in filters in order to capture and retain heavy metals in water. For instance iron oxide nanoparticles have been known to be efficient in the removal of arsenic from the water and titanium dioxide nanoparticles which can decompose organic pollutants through photo catalytic process. This greater selectivity and destruction of certain pollutants make nanotechnology a promising avenue to advance the drinking water cleanliness (Zhang, 2020).
Nanotechnology’s suitability in handling biological issues including bacteria and virus
In traditional filtration techniques, there is little evidence that all the pathogens will be filtered out, more so the viruses, which are much smaller than bacteria. Nanotechnology allows engineers to design filters with Nano scale sized pores that will prevent these pathogen from passing through the filter. However, nanoparticles that are naturally antimicrobial, for example silver and copper, can also be incorporated into filters in order to further enhance the capability of the filter by way of killing off any microbe that comes into contact with the filter. Physical filtration combined with microbial inactivation provides a more efficient mechanism of water purification, and also greatly cuts the incidences of waterborne diseases (Peter, 2020).
This is an ever increasing factor due to the effects of the processes involved in water treatment to the environment. Measures which have been used in the past like chemical disinfection and chlorination give out poisonous byproducts that pollute the surroundings and are potentially hazardous to human health. A common problem of conventional water filtration techniques is that they require large quantities of chemical reagents and produce significant amounts of waste products Nanotechnology brings about better efficiency in water treatment through careful use of chemicals in the process and minimization of wastes. For example, there are photo catalytic nanoparticles such as the titanium dioxide can use the sun’s light to degrade organic compounds in water without the use of chemicals. Such a process, which is called photo catalysis, not only works as the water treatment but also decreases the negative impact of the water treatment on the environment significantly. This therefore implies that through adoption of nanotechnology in water filtration we are able to acquire better quality water without straining the environment (Diallo, 2020).
Any other stuff composed of Nano scale materials
Like any other stuff that is composed of Nano scale materials, there are the difficulties and the dangers linked with the water filtration by means of nanotechnology as well. The first apprehension is the effect that certain types of nanomaterials may have on people’s health if they are expelled to the environment or if they are consumed. Out of these nanoparticles, silver and titanium dioxide are known to have dangerous impacts on the aquatic life and even the human beings in case they are not well contained. Thus, as the application of nanotechnology advances across the water treatment fields, more research should be directed toward the identification of the risks that are likely to stem from the technology and the safe practices that can be adopted to manage these risks. However, another loophole that hinders the full utilization of nanomaterials in fuel filtration systems is the expensive process of preparing nanomaterials and integrating them into larger scale filtration systems. Nonetheless, research is still underway today while new technologies emerging in the near future to see to it that the following challenges have been met hence making nanotechnology a solution to water purification in the future (Wang, 2021).
Other issues are associated with the inability of the existing legislation to meet the growing advances in nanotechnology. Most modern water treatment standards may not be sufficient to address nanomaterial utilization in their fullest, which creates ambiguity in their application. It shall therefore be important to set out clear rules concerning use of nanotechnology in the treatment of water for example in filtration processes so as to maximize on the efficiency and at the same time minimize adverse effects. This is why the social, researcher, policymaker and industry actors with the support of civil society must co-develop the norms and rules that will ensure responsible nanotechnology application in water treatment.
Conclusion
To sum up, it is possible to expand nanotechnology in water filtration as a brand-new efficient and selective way of water purification from contaminants and pollutants. Nanotechnology can enhance the efficiencies of water filtration systems because of its targeting ability of specific contaminants at molecular level to address the current and future issues in water supply. As the further investigation in this area is conducted, nanotechnology will immensely contribute toward catering the human population with safe and clean water for drinking while addressing environmental concerns. But for efficiency, it must be noted that constant endeavours have to be made in order to overcome the stumbling blocks of cost, safety and regulation (Venkatesh, 2022).