A REVIEW ON ROLE OF MOLLUSCAN SHELLS IN THE REMOVAL OF POLLUTANTS FROM AQUATIC WATER BODIESArti Sharma, Isha Devi and Radhika SinghAbstract Water pollution is a topic of great concern worldwide and the major contributing factors to it is the heavy metal discharge from various industries. Heavy metals being non-biodegradable in nature have long lasting effect on our ecosystem as they bioaccumulate in various organisms through the process of biomagnification. These heavy metals not only affect the flora and fauna but also human beings. Most of the heavy metals being carcinogenic have adverse effects on human health. Therefore, it is important to remove these heavy metals from aquatic ecosystem. Though, various methods for metal removal such as precipitation, evaporation, ion exchange, membrane processes, electroplating etc. are in use nowadays but all of these have some disadvantages. Thus, there is a need for more efficient and sustainable method for waste water treatment. Biosorption could be considered as a highly efficient and economical way to remove these toxic loads from water bodies. This paper reviews the use of molluscan shell as bio sorbent for industrial waste water treatment. |