Nanomaterials used for remediating heavy metal contamination in mining and geological environments: Adsorption, treatment, and environmental applications
Abstract
Pollution from heavy metals in the mining and geological environment is one of the major environmental issues, which result in chronic effects on the ecosystem and human beings. The mining process, ore concentration, metallurgy processing, and acid mine drainage results in the release of environmentally relevant metals and metalloids such as Ni, Cu, Cd, Pb, As, Cr, Zn, and Hg into the soil and water environment. Although conventional treatment methods are effective in some extent, they are faced with the disadvantages of being expensive, non-selective, and resulting in secondary waste. It is for this reason that nanomaterials play an increasingly important role in heavy metal removal because of their large specific surface area, controllable surface chemistry, high adsorption capacity, and reusability. This review focuses on the sources of heavy metal contamination in mining and geological systems, the environmental impact of such contamination, and the major elements of such contamination; the performances of metal oxide, magnetic, carbonaceous, silica- and clay-based, biopolymer-based, MOF/COF and hybrid nanomaterials in terms of removal of heavy metals have been compared. Moreover, removal mechanisms, including electrostatic interactions, ion-exchange, surface complexation, precipitation, and physical adsorption, as well as nanotechnology-related enhancement methods and environmental applications have been considered. It can be concluded that the use of nanotechnology-based methods is promising in view of both efficiency and sustainability regarding heavy metal contamination in mining and geological systems. However, before the implementation of such methods on an industrial scale, the stability, environmental safety, reusability, and cost-effectiveness of nanomaterials should be assessed in detail.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Nanomaterials, Geology of Engineering
Journal Section
Review
Publication Date
August 31, 2026
Submission Date
July 20, 2026
Acceptance Date
August 17, 2026
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Number: 013