Magnetic separation offers a common technology adoption for purification of water which could be from oil removal to inorganic ion removal to organic contaminant removal to bacteria removal. To each technique whether adsorption, catalytic processes, membrane processes, it has been demonstrated that addition of magnetic component aides to improvisation in efficiency of separations. Referring to Fig. 2 on role of nanomaterials
for contaminants removal except for role of carbon nanoclusters all other areas can be in the scope of iron or iron-based materials. Mesostructured iron oxides could be a scope for research for bacteria trapping or removal. Nanoscale iron for degradation of
contaminants under magnetic field can be converted to magnetic oxide wastes that could be effectively separated using magnetic assistance. In the area of nanomaterials for water decontamination,magnetic separation system designs need to be in the frontier area
of research. From the waste management point of view of handling least toxic substance and owing to high saturation magnetisation of iron, nanoscale iron-based catalyst and magnetic assistance based separations would provide long-term benefits.