Adsorption property and mechanism of composite adsorbent PMAA/SiO2 for aniline

Recent advances in structural modifications of photo-catalysts for organic pollutants degradation - A comprehensive review

Over the last few years, industrial and anthropogenic activities have increased the presence of organic pollutants such as dyes, herbicides, pesticides, analgesics, and antibiotics in the water that adversely affect human health and the environment worldwide. Photocatalytic treatment is considered a promising, economical, effective, and sustainable process that utilizes light energy to degrade the pollutants in water. However, certain drawbacks like rapid recombination and low migration capability of photogenerated electrons and holes have restricted the use of photo-catalysts in industries. Hence, despite the abundance of lab-scale research, the technology is still not much commercialized in the mainstream. Several structural modifications in the photo-catalysts have been adopted to enhance the pollutant degradation performance to overcome the same. In this context, the present review article outlines the different advanced heterostructures synthesized to date for improved degradation of three major organic pollutants: antibiotics, dyes, and pesticides. Moreover, the article also emphasizes the degradation kinetics of photo-catalysts and the publication trend in the past decade along with the roadblocks preventing the transfer of technology from the laboratory to industry and new age photo-catalysts for the profitable implications in industrial sectors.

Hydroxyl modified hypercrosslinked polymers: targeting high efficient adsorption separation towards aniline

The removal of aniline from aqueous solution has a major environmental impact and attracted increasing attention in last few years.

Effects of nitrogen plasma treatment on the surface characteristics of olive stone-based activated carbon

Nitrogen plasma treatment (NPT) of activated carbon (AC) at different conditions was carried out to introduce nitrogen-containing groups onto olive stone-activated carbon (OSAC) surfaces. Textural characteristics of raw and irradiated samples were analyzed by N₂ and CO₂ adsorption. Surface chemical functional groups were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS) and Fourier Transformed Infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that after NPT, the surface textural properties of irradiated OSAC were slightly damaged, and a gradual decrease in surface area and pore volume was observed during the irradiation. XPS revealed that NPT could change the distribution of oxygen functional groups on the OSAC surface and there were more nitrogen atoms incorporated into the aromatic ring. A tentative explanation for the modification process is proposed. Phenol adsorption was enhanced from 110 mg/g for untreated AC to 635 mg/g for 30-min plasma-treated OSAC.

Layered double hydroxide intercalated with aromatic acid anions for the efficient capture of aniline from aqueous solution

Aniline is toxic and hard to be degraded, and thereby causes the environmental pollution seriously. Herein, a practical and green hydrothermal method was applied to fabricate terephthalic acid and pyromellitic acid intercalated layered double hydroxides (LDH) (named as TAL and PAL) for aniline efficient removal. The sorption of aniline on LDH-based materials were investigated at different experimental conditions, and the results indicated that aniline sorption on LDH, TAL and PAL were strongly dependent on pH and independent of ionic strength. The maximum sorption capacities of aniline on TAL and PAL at pH 5.0 and 293K were 90.4 and 130.0mg/g, respectively, which were significantly higher than that of aniline on LDH (52.6mg/g). Based on the BET, FTIR and XPS analysis, the higher sorption capacities of TAL and PAL were mainly due to high surface area and basal spacing as well as the abundant functional groups (e.g. -COO^-). The interactions of aniline with TAL and PAL were mainly dominated by hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions. Such a facile synthesis method, efficient removal performance and superior reusability indicated that the aromatic acid modified LDH materials had potential application for efficient treatment of organic pollutants in environmental pollution cleanup.

High-capacity adsorption of aniline using surface modification of lignocellulose-biomass jute fibers

Pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) modified jute fiber (MJF) were prepared with microwave treatment to generate a biosorbent for aniline removal. The characterization of the biosorbent was investigated by SEM, BET and FT-IR analysis to discuss the adsorption mechanism. The studies of various factors influencing the adsorption behavior indicated that the optimum dosage for aniline adsorption was 3g/L, the maximum adsorption capacity was observed at pH 7.0 and the adsorption process is spontaneous and endothermic. The aniline adsorption follows the pseudo second order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model. Moreover, the biosorbent could be regenerated through the desorption of aniline by using 0.5M HCl solution, and the adsorption capacity after regeneration is even higher than that of virgin MJF. All these results prove MJF is a promising adsorbent for aniline removal in wastewater.

Synthesis and characterization of full interpenetrating structure mesoporous polycarbonate-silica spheres and p-phenylenediamine adsorption

As a common used and hardly emulsified amorphous thermoplastic, the bisphenol-A polycarbonates were used as the polymer candidate to form a novel monodispersed sub-micrometer mesoporous polymer-silica spheres with full interpenetrating structure. The synthesis procedure was based on a modified sol-gel approach in which the polycarbonate was plasticized in advanced by the surfactant of polymer emulsion. The mesoporous spheres possess a perfect uniform particle size and the polymer-silica spheres are held together by permanent entanglement in three dimensions. The defined crystallization of the polycarbonate was occurred when it was entrapped in the silica laminated matrix due to the plasticizing effect of the surfactant, and directly affected the thermal stability of the mesoporous spheres. The specific surface areas and pore diameters of mesoporous sphere were affected by the mass content and crystallization behavior of the polycarbonate. The p-phenylenediamine was used as adsorbate to investigate the cationic organics adsorption ability of the mesoporous spheres. The results shown that the polycarbonate-silica possess a well adsorption capacity for p-phenylenediamine by virtue of two kinds of hydrogen bond, and the maximum adsorption capacity was nearly 7.5 times larger than that of the hollow mesoporous silica.

Synthesis and properties of Fe3O4-activated carbon magnetic nanoparticles for removal of aniline from aqueous solution: equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic studies

In this study, powder activated carbon (PAC) and magnetic nanoparticles of iron (III) oxide were used for synthesis of Fe₃O₄-activated carbon magnetic nanoparticles (AC-Fe₃O₄ MNPs) as an adsorbent for the removal of aniline. The characteristics of adsorbent were evaluated by SEM, TEM, XRD and BET. Also, the impact of different parameters such as pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, aniline initials concentration and solution temperature were studied. The experimental data investigated by Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms and two models kinetically of pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order. The results indicated that the adsorption followed Langmuir and pseudo second-order models with correlation r² > 0.98 and r² > 0.99, respectively. The equilibrium time was obtained after 5 h. According to Langmuir model, the maximum adsorption capacity was 90.91 mg/g at pH = 6, and 20°C. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that adsorption of aniline on magnetic activated carbon was exothermic and spontaneous. This synthesized AC-Fe₃O₄ MNPs due to have advantages such as easy and rapid separation from solution could be applied as an adsorbent effective for removal of pollutants such as aniline from water and wastewater.

Non-chromatographic mercury speciation and determination in wine by new core-shell ion-imprinted sorbents

In this study new Hg(II) core-shell imprinted sorbents (Hg(II)-IIPs) were prepared and tested for speciation and determination of Hg in wine. The silica gel, chemically modified with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TSPM) was used as supporting material. The Hg(II)-imprinted polymer layer was grafted by copolymerization of methacrylic acid and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate in the presence of Hg(II) complexes with two different chelating agents: 1-pyrrolidinedithiocarboxylic acid (P(PDC-Hg)/SiG) and 1-(2-thiazolylazo)-2-naphthol (P(TAN-Hg)/SiG). High selectivity and fast kinetics of processes of sorption and desorption for Hg(II) were found by using P(PDC-Hg)/SiG. Recovery experiments performed for selective determination of inorganic mercury in wines showed that the interfering organic matrix did not influence the extraction efficiency. Column solid phase extraction scheme was developed for the determination and speciation of Hg in wines. The limit of detection (LOD) achieved for inorganic mercury determination in wine samples is 0.02 μg L(-1) (3σ), measured by CV AAS. The relative standard deviation varied in the range 6-11% at 0.05-2 μg L(-1) Hg levels. The sorbents showed high mechanical and chemical stability and extraction efficiency has not changed after more than 50 sorption/desorption cycles.

Degradation kinetics and mechanism of aniline by heat-assisted persulfate oxidation

Oxidation of aniline by persulfate in aqueous solutions was investigated and the reaction kinetic rates under different temperature, persulfate concentration and pH conditions were examined in batch experiments. The results showed that, the aniline degradation followed pseudo first-order reaction model. Aniline degradation rate increased with increasing temperature or persulfate concentration. In the pH range of 3 to 11, a low aniline degradation rate was obtained at strong acid system (pH 3), while a high degradation rate was achieved at strong alkalinity (pH 11). Maximum aniline degradation occurred at pH 7 when the solution was in a weak level of acid and alkalinity (pH 5, 7 and 9). Produced intermediates during the oxidation process were identified using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry technology. And nitrobenzene, 4-4'-diaminodiphenyl and 1-hydroxy-1,2-diphenylhydrazine have been identified as the major intermediates of aniline oxidation by persulfate and the degradation mechanism of aniline was also tentatively proposed.

Effect of template in MCM-41 on the adsorption of aniline from aqueous solution

The effect of the surfactant template cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in MCM-41 on the adsorption of aniline was investigated. Various MCM-41 samples were prepared by controlling template removal using an extraction method. The samples were then used as adsorbents for the removal of aniline from aqueous solution. The results showed that the MCM-41 samples with the template partially removed (denoted as C-MCM-41) exhibited better adsorption performance than MCM-41 with the template completely removed (denoted as MCM-41). The reason for this difference may be that the C-MCM-41 samples had stronger hydrophobic properties and selectivity for aniline because of the presence of the template. The porosity and cationic sites generated by the template play an important role in the adsorption process. The optimal adsorbent with moderate template was achieved by changing the ratio of extractant; it has the potential for promising applications in the field of water pollution control.