Typical low cost biosorbents for adsorptive removal of specific organic pollutants from water

•Characteristics of lignocellulosic sorbents and chitin/chitosan were analyzed.•Uptake mechanism of SOPs was revealed and discussed.•Modification methods to enhance biosorbents were presented.•Application of typical low-cost biosorbents to remove SOPs was assessed.•Future viewpoint to use inexpensive biomaterials for SOPs elimination was proposed.

Specific organic pollutants (SOPs) such as phenolic compounds, PAHs, organic pesticides, and organic herbicides cause health and environmental problems due to their excessive toxic properties and poor biodegradability. Low-cost biosorbents are considered as a promising alternative for conventional adsorbents to remove SOPs from water. These materials have several advantages such as high sorption capacities, good modifiability and recoverability, insensitivity to toxic substances, simple operation in the treatment processes. However, previous reports on various types of biosorbents for removing SOPs are still moderately fragmented. Hence, this paper provides a comprehensive review on using typical low-cost biosorbents obtained from lignocellulose and chitin/chitosan for SOPs adsorption. Especially, their characteristics, biosorption mechanism together with utilization for eliminating SOPs are presented and discussed. The paper also gives a critical view regarding future applications of low-cost biosorbents in SOPs-contaminated water treatment.