Carbonaceous adsorbents in the removal of aquaculture pollutants: A technical review of methods and mechanisms

Carbonaceous adsorbents (CAs) are becoming increasingly popular owing to their low-cost, ease of preparation, and versatility. Meanwhile, aquaculture is becoming a fundamental food industry, globally, due to a wide range of advantages such as economic and nutritional benefits, whilst protecting the depletion of natural resources. However, as with any farming, the technique is known to introduce a plethora of chemicals into the surrounding environment, including antibiotics, nutrients, fertilisers and more. Therefore, the treatment of aquaculture effluent is gaining traction to ensure the sustainable growth of the industry. Although the existing mitigation techniques are somewhat effective, they suffer from degradation of the water quality or harm to local environments/organisms. This article aims to identify the sources and impacts of various aquaculture pollutants. After which the authors will provide an environmentally friendly and novel approach to the treatment of aquaculture effluent using carbonaceous adsorbents. The article will detail discussions about the product life span, including, synthesis, activation, modification, applications in aqueous media, regeneration and End-of-Life (EoL) approaches, with a particular focus on the impacts of competitive adsorption between pollutants and environmental matrices. Some research gaps were also highlighted, such as the lack of literature applying real-world samples, the effects of competitive adsorption and the EoL applications and management for CAs.