Prospects for Immobilization of Microbial Sorbents on Carbon Nanotubes for Biosorption: Bioremediation of Heavy Metals Polluted Water

There is growing consideration to abandon the conventional water treatment methods because of their high cost and environmental impact. Alternative methods investigated nowadays present the advantages of being cheaper and ecofriendly. Among the biosorbents used for the bioremediation of heavy metal pollution of water are microorganisms, which have an inherent ability to uptake heavy metals from solutions. In order to render microbial biosorbents suitable for process applications, immobilization on adequate supports is required. Apart from their large specific surface area and hollow structure, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) present a number of features making them attractive for immobilization of microbial sorbents to be used in biosorption processes. This chapter elaborates the potential of microorganisms as biosorbents used in the bioremediation of toxic heavy metals pollution of water systems and explores the possibility of enhancing their performance through immobilization on adequate support matrices, namely carbon nanotubes.