Unlocking Green Solutions: Cellulose as a Lucrative Heavy Metal Adsorbent in Wastewater Treatment-A Comprehensive Review

Human activities across domestic, commercial, and industrial sectors have significantly contributed to the accumulation of pollutants, including heavy metals, inorganic and organic compounds, and dyes, in aquatic environments. To improve water quality, it is crucial to develop a sustainable treatment method for the removal of these contaminants. Modifying cellulose by adding functional groups to its structure enhances its inherent properties which improves its ability to sorb heavy metals. This study focuses on current research into the effectiveness of cellulose as a sorbent for the eradication of heavy metals from effluents. The literature review indicates that modified cellulose-based sorbents are more promising than unmodified cellulose for the heavy metal elimination process. However, to optimize the wastewater treatment process further, it is necessary to explore effective methods such as tempo-oxidation, grafting, esterification, and electrospinning for producing more effective cellulose-based adsorbents and assessing their scalability in industrial applications.