Adsorption thermodynamics to clean up wastewater; critical review

The current review paper deals with critical evaluation of the thermodynamic parameters of adsorption equilibrium uptakes of heavy metals, dyes and other organic pollutants from the wastewater using low-cost adsorbents, activated carbon derived from agricultural waste, industrial wastes and other important adsorbent materials. Present review paper focus the spontaneity of adsorption processes when the thermodynamic parameters were assessed with the compensation effects of standard enthalpy change (ΔHᵒ) and standard entropy change (ΔSᵒ) with temperature. This paper also investigates the spontaneity of adsorption on the basis of thermodynamic criteria of spontaneity and the temperature range to predict feasibility of the adsorption processes.