Recent advances in the treatment of heavy/precious metal pollution, resource recovery and reutilization: Progress and perspective

With the advancement of industrial development and urbanization, the indiscriminate discharge of industrial pollutants and wastes containing heavy metals and precious metals poses a significant threat to human health and ecosystems. Despite the widespread use of several traditional therapeutic procedures, these treatments frequently exhibit low efficacy and significant environmental consequences. The extraction and reuse of metal resources in pollutant treatment can effectively alleviate the current resource crisis; however, achieving a balance between recovery efficiency and environmental impact during the extraction process remains a major challenge. To tackle these challenges, emerging treatment materials along with advancements in thermal/photo/electrochemical methods offer additional possibilities for efficiently remediating/mineralizing heavy/precious metal pollution. This paper introduces traditional techniques for treating precious and heavy metals from water and soil while discussing the prospects of new treatment materials as well as effective thermal/photo/electrochemical methods for removing such metals. Furthermore, various strategies for recovering metals from municipal waste and wastewater containing heavy/precious metal are discussed, emphasizing sustainable approaches to enhance recycling performance.