Selenium Adsorption Techniques in Water Treatment
Summary
Selenium enters aquatic systems primarily as selenite (Se(IV)) and selenate (Se(VI)), both of which pose risks to human health and ecosystems when concentrations exceed narrow regulatory thresholds. Adsorption has emerged as a versatile and cost-effective approach for capturing these oxyanions from water. A variety of materials—including activated carbons, engineered biochars, metal-oxide-impregnated nanostructures, layered double hydroxides (LDHs), natural and modified zeolites, alumina and iron-based sorbents—have been investigated. Removal mechanisms span physisorption driven by surface area and porosity, chemisorption via specific metal–selenium bonding, anion exchange in layered materials and redox-mediated transformation of selenium species. Key process parameters such as pH, competing anions, adsorbent surface functionality and contact time strongly influence performance. Adsorption isotherms (Freundlich, Langmuir) and kinetic models (pseudo-first/second order) are routinely applied to quantify capacity and rate. Recent work has focused on enhancing selectivity through surface modification, improving material regeneration and integrating machine-learning tools to predict adsorbent behaviour. As global demand rises for reliable selenium control in mining, agricultural runoff and industrial effluents, tailored adsorption strategies offer scalable pathways to comply with drinking-water standards and protect vulnerable biota.
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Selenium Adsorption Techniques in Water Treatment publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in selenium adsorption techniques in water treatment across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Adsorption: accumulation of dissolved species at the surface of a solid adsorbent, forming a thin film.
Selenite (Se(IV)): a selenium oxyanion in oxidation state +4, often more readily removed than selenate.
Selenate (Se(VI)): a selenium oxyanion in oxidation state +6, typically more mobile and challenging to capture.
Biochar: a porous, carbon-rich material produced by pyrolysis of biomass and often modified for contaminant adsorption.
Breakthrough curve: a plot of effluent contaminant concentration versus time in a column, indicating adsorbent exhaustion.
Layered double hydroxides (LDHs): inorganic anionic clays with positively charged metal-hydroxide layers and exchangeable interlayer anions, used for ion exchange and adsorption.
References
- Machine learning approach to predict adsorption capacity of Fe-modified biochar for selenium. Carbon Research (2023).
- Breakthrough Curves Prediction of Selenite Adsorption on Chemically Modified Zeolite Using Boosted Decision Tree Algorithms for Water Treatment Applications. Water (2022).
- XPS determined mechanism of selenite (HSeO3 −) sorption in absence/presence of sulfate (SO4 2−) on Mg-Al-CO3 Layered double hydroxides (LDHs): Solid phase speciation focus. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (2023).
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