Metal–organic frameworks for wastewater treatment

An attempt has been made in this book chapter to highlight the role of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) to clean wastewater for reuse. Although water is highly abundant on this planet a little portion is fit for consumption by living bodies and for agricultural use or, even, for utilization in most of the industrial sectors. The demand of the growing civilization has further dictated rapid changes in the manufacturing industries that have been supplementing newer processing units. Contaminated water either gets soaked into the soil to reach groundwater or adds to the surface water in rivers, lakes, swamps, marshes, and seas. Many chemicals that are added to the water cycle pose a threat. The presence of such contaminants even in very small quantities potentially causes havoc to human health, animals, and birds as well as plants. Heavy metals and different organic substances are dangerously getting accumulated through biomagnification in human bodies creating a general health concern by affecting major organs. Pesticides, agrochemicals, leachates from manufacturing industries, and oil spillage in seas are disturbing the whole scenario. The freshwater stock which is only a very small percentage of the total water now has been under tremendous stress to mitigate the need of human beings and other living bodies as well as the ecosystem. There are conventional water remediation technologies that are equally strong and economically viable in terms of treating physical contamination. However, the separation of chemical contaminants in low quantities is a tedious job. The uses of MOFs have been examined by many researchers in trapping chemical contaminants and oils through adsorption methods. Reports of many researchers for water-stable MOFs have been summarized including some interesting adsorption applications. The future scope of such target-specific MOFs greatly lies in the effective sequestration of contaminants by employing viable and sustainable strategies.