Agricultural biomass as sustainable adsorbents for the removal of heavy metals and dyes from textile and tannery wastewater used for crop irrigation in developing countries: a case of Nigeria

The scarcity of freshwater resources being currently experienced in water stressed and most developing countries has prompted millions of smaller communities to depend on wastewater for agriculture, drinking, bathing and fishing. In this context, the treatment option of textile and tannery wastewater containing heavy metals and dyestuffs used for agriculture is the subject of interest in this research. Release of these micro-pollutants into the water bodies especially surface water has been an issue of concern amongst researchers due to the health risks associated with such metals when found in the food chain. Although, conventional wastewater treatment technologies exist; however, they are inefficient at much lower concentrations, design process is complex and are usually very expensive. As such, the essence of this study is to devise a simple, efficient, affordable and reliable technology for wastewater treatment using low cost adsorbents. [Continues.]