Nanotechnology in Contemporary Mine Water Issues

Nanotechnology holds great promise in advancing affordable mine water treatment and remediation technologies by improving treatment efficiency and performance. Further, it promises to overcome major challenges faced by existing treatment technologies through provision of highly efficient, modular, and multifunctional processes facilitating new treatment capabilities. Such technologies could further allow economic utilization of mine water as a source of commercially viable products. This chapter provides an overview of recent and future developments in nanotechnology that would benefit contemporary mine water treatment regimes, while investigating novel abate approaches possible through the use of nanotechnology. The chapter discusses candidate nanomaterials, their advantages and limitations relative to existing processes, and the unique properties and surface-active mechanisms that enable their adoption in mine water treatment applications.