Retention of organic micro-pollutants by sorption processes

This chapter is a review of the impacts of organic micro-pollutants on the environment and quality of life in general, and of the sorption processes that these molecules go through when released into water, air, or soils. Potential sorbents for these compounds are listed and discussed, with particular focus on low-cost green sorbents, that otherwise would constitute another waste to be treated. The economic and environmental advantages of the usage of such wastes is defended. Special attention is given to sorption on activated sludges, mechanisms, and implications, with an indication of the tertiary hybrid treatment to be implemented in wastewater treatment plants or in water treatment plants for the removal of these emergent molecules. This treatment includes biological mineralization and immobilization by adsorption. A critical assessment of the approach to the resolution of the overall problem of emergent contaminants is given, with the introduction of industrial symbiosis as a circular economy approach.