Removal of bisphenol A and methylene blue through persulfate activation by calcinated α-MnO2 nanorods: effect of ultrasonic assistance and toxicity assessment

Cellulose- supported sulfated-magnetic biocomposite produced from hemp biomass: Effective removal of cationic dyes from aqueous solution

In present study, eco-friendly sulfated cellulose-magnetic biocomposite was successfully synthesized with a simple method from hemp biomass. ATR-FTIR was used to determine chemical changes, while FE-SEM-EDS, STEM, XRD, TG/DTA, and BET techniques were employed to identify changes in morphology, elemental composition, crystal structure, and thermal degradation. Moreover, the saturation magnetization and pHpzc values of the MSHB were also determined. The effectiveness of magnetic sulfated hemp biomass (MSHB) was tested in the removal of cationic dyes from wastewater, including methylene blue (MB), crystal violet (CV), and malachite green oxalate (MGO). The adsorption all three dyes to MSHB, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir model were determined to be more appropriate, and was endothermic and spontaneous from thermodynamic parameters, too. The maximum MSHB adsorption capacities were found to be 457.6, 509.3, and 1300 mg/g for MB, CV, and MGO at 298 K. With increasing temperature, it also drastically increased in capacity. The outstanding property of the MSHB is that it shows high removal performance wide pH range, even after ten cycles its high removal efficiency is still over 96 % for all three dyes and almost unaffected from dense matrix medium. These results demonstrate that MSHB is remarkable adsorbent for removing cationic dyes.

Activation of sulfite by micron-scale iron-carbon composite for metronidazole degradation: Theoretical and experimental studies

In recent years, sulfite (S(Ⅳ)), as an alternative to persulfates, has played a crucial role in eliminating antibiotics in wastewater, so there is an urgent need to develop a cheap, environmentally friendly, and effective catalyst. Zero-valent iron (ZVI) has great potential for activated S(Ⅳ) removal of organic pollutants, but its reactivity in water is reduced due to passivation. In this study, a micron-scale iron-carbon composite(mZVI@C-800) prepared via high-temperature calcination was coupled with S(Ⅳ) to degrade metronidazole (MNZ). Under the optimized reaction conditions of mZVI@C-800 dosage of 0.2 g/L and S(Ⅳ) concentration of 0.1 g/L, the MNZ removal rate was up to 81.5 % in acidic and neutral environments. The surface chemical properties of the catalysts were characterized by different analytical techniques, and the corresponding catalytic mechanism was analyzed based on these analytical results. As a result, Fe²⁺ is the main active site, and ^·OH and SO₄^·- were the dominant active species. The increase in efficiency was attributed to the introduction of carbon to enhance the corrosion of mZVI further releasing more Fe²⁺. Additionally proposed were the potential response mechanism, the degradation path, and the toxicity change rule. These results demonstrate that the catalytic breakdown of antibiotics in wastewater treatment can be accelerated by the use of the outstanding catalytic material mZVI@C-800.