Application and challenge of woody biomass composites in water treatment

Wood has multi-scale, multi-level and abundant pore structure. This hierarchical porous structure creates natural conditions for the development of new water treatment materials and equipment. With the development of nanotechnology and other advanced technologies, top-down or bottom-up assembly of wood is performed. Functional wood materials are obtained, breaking the limitations of wood in practical applications and promising to replace traditional petroleum-based and other materials. This paper reviews the research results related to wood biomass composites from the perspective of process-structure-property-application and provides a systematic description of the new applications of wood in water treatment, such as bacterial filtration, dye pollutants removal, heavy metal removal, oil removal and seawater desalination. The performance of wood biomass materials is also compared with other traditional and emerging materials. The structural design and performance optimization of wood biomass composites are summarized. Finally, the development of wood science is discussed. It is concluded that although wood has made major breakthroughs in applications, more in-depth basic research is needed. The future potential and challenges faced by woody biomass composites in engineering production are foreseen. [Display omitted] ●The preparation method of woody biomass composites is introduced.●Wood with porous and layered structure is an excellent carrier.●Addition of nanoparticles can improve the catalytic performance of wood materials.●Woody biomass materials have great potential in the field of water treatment.