Objective:

The objective of this review article was to carry out a bibliographic inquiry at the level of scientific articles in local, national and international journals in the period from 2010 to 2019, in relation to unconventional technologies (biopolymers, bioremediation, and agroindustrial waste) that they have been used in the removal of lead (Pb), present in synthetic and / or industrial wastewater.

Methodology:

The research adopted a qualitative, investigative model of exploratory type. The methodological aspects carried out corresponded to the inquiry and choice of scientific articles (for each of the unconventional technologies selected) in the period from 2010 to 2019, based on keywords; subsequently, an analysis of their content was carried out and two matrices performed in Excel were filled out.

Results:

The bibliographic review carried out allowed us to observe that: firstly, in relation to the unconventional technologies with the greatest tendency in research, used in the removal of lead, agroindustrial residues are found, followed by bioremediation and finally biopolymers, for which they found and selected 19 for the first, 13 for the second, and for the last nine. Similarly, the countries that have carried out and reported research results around the selected unconventional technologies correspond to: China, Colombia, Korea, Egypt, Spain, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Serbia, Singapore and Zimbabwe; in contrast, the selected publications are mostly located internationally. Finally, the highest removal percentages of the order of 100% were presented with agroindustrial wastes (for which 24 have been investigated), followed by 98% with bioremediation (where red algae and six strains of bacteria have been investigated) and finally, biopolymers, with 95.32% (where chitosan, starch, keratin, snail shells and feathers, have been investigated).

Conclusions:

The unconventional technologies with greater tendency in research and application in industrial wastewater matrices, according to the 2010-2019 period, correspond to agroindustrial waste; In the same way, the majority of wastewater in which these types of methods have been applied correspond to the synthetic ones, which leads to exposing that these must begin to be implemented at an industrial level or a pilot, to observe their efficiency in the removal of heavy metals, and particularly lead.

Financing:

The investigation carried out did not receive funding.