Water, together with energy and food, has been addressed as one of the main urgent problems of humanity. The conventional wastewater treatments suffer some limitations related to the effectiveness in decontamination (mechanical filtration), in the heavy use of chemicals (chlorination), or in elevation of operational costs and energy requirements (desalination and reverse osmosis). In this sense, new materials such as nanocomposites may overcome these issues taking advantage of the peculiar properties of materials at nanoscale. Research on novel nanotechnologies must bring advances in order to contrast and prevent water scarcity and pollution. In order to be effective, these nanotechnologies should run at low operational cost, even in places unequipped by strong infrastructures and in concert with conventional cheap methodologies.
Part of the book: Green Nanotechnology