Re-evaluation of several heavy metals removal by natural limestones

Different treatment technologies have been efficiently applied to remove heavy metals from wastewater. Efforts have been made to find out the most economic water treatment technology by using low cost and easily accessible natural materials. On the other hand, heavy metals are the most threatening groundwater contaminants because of their toxicity and harmful effects on human and biota. This review discusses the use of natural geological materials for heavy metal removal in aqueous systems. Special attention has been devoted to natural limestone through a systematic inventory of relevant published reports. The removal of toxic metals may include different mechanisms (e.g., physisorption, chemisorptions, precipitation, etc.), depending on the physico-chemical properties of the material and the removed metal. Sorption of toxic metals (e.g., Pb, Cu, Cd, Zn, Cr, Hg, etc.) onto natural limestone involved precipitation of metal carbonate as a predominant removal process, but often subordinated by adsorption and ion exchange, depending on the physico-chemical properties of the studied limestone.