Ball-milled magnetite for efficient arsenic decontamination: Insights into oxidation-adsorption mechanism

Arsenic(III) sequestration by terrestrial-derived soil protein: Roles of redox-active moieties and Fe(III)

Glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) has demonstrated significant potential for water purification and remediation of heavy metals in soils; however, its redox reactivity for As(III) sequestration and the corresponding redox-active component are still poorly understood. This study investigated the photochemical properties of GRSP and its mechanism of oxidation/adsorption of As(III). The results showed that UV irradiation triggered electron transfer and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in GRSP, thereby facilitating As(III) oxidation with promotion rates ranging from 43.34 % to 111.1 %. The oxidation of As(III) occurred both on the GRSP photoforming holes and in the ROS reaction from the oxygen reduction products of the photoforming electrons. OH• and H2O2 played an important role in the oxidation of As(III) by GRSP, especially under alkaline conditions. Moreover, the presence of Fe(III) in GRSP facilitated the formation of OH• and its the oxidation capacity towards As(III). The binding of As(III) to the -COOH, -OH, and -FeO groups on the GRSP surface occurred through surface complexation. Overall, these findings provided new insights into the roles of the redox-active moieties and Fe(III) on GRSP in the promoted oxidation of As(III), which would help to deepen our understanding of the migration and transformation of As(III) in soils.

Stabilization of arsenic-cadmium co-contaminated soil with the iron-manganese sludge derived amendment: Effects and mechanisms

An iron-manganese sludge-derived amendment was proposed to remediate arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) co-contaminated soil, with a strong adsorptive capacity across pH 4 to 10. The Langmuir model defined maximum adsorption at 78.17 mg/g for As(III), 110.48 mg/kg for As(V), and 65.77 mg/g for Cd(II). The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra provided insights into the chemical interactions: As was predominantly complexed or ligand exchanged with iron(hydr)oxides. In contrast, cadmium exhibited a tendency to bond with acylamino and carboxyl groups, in addition to the ferric hydroxyl groups. Notably, 42.15% of the adsorbed As(III) was oxidized into As(V) by Mn(IV) oxides present in the amendment. The soil-verification experiment demonstrated that an amendment dosage of 40 g/kg was efficacious in reducing the leaching concentration of As and Cd to maintained below the safety thresholds of 0.1 mg/L and 0.01 mg/L, respectively, for pH levels 4 to 11, meeting the Chinese Surface Water Quality Standard V (GB3838-2002). After the stabilization, the exchangeable fractions of As and the acid-soluble fractions of Cd were significantly reduced, with these elements being transformed into more stable forms. The amendment maintained the soil's neutral pH and adjusted the soil physicochemical properties. This article presents a holistic approach by examining the organic-inorganic composite of iron-manganese oxides with polyacrylamide, modified as a stabilizing amendment for As and Cd co-contaminated soil. This innovative amendment adeptly navigates the previously conflicting stabilization mechanisms for anionic and cationic metals. Offering dual advantages, the amendment not only remediates soil but also addresses the disposal of waste, presenting a win-win solution for environmental management.

Rapid Oxidative Dissolution of Zerovalent Iron Induced by Sulfite for Efficient Removal of Arsenate and Arsenite: Selective Formation of Scorodite

In this study, we proposed a moderate oxidation strategy for accelerating the oxidative dissolution of zerovalent iron (ZVI) using sulfite (S(IV)), thereby improving the removal of As(V) and As(III). Results revealed that, in the presence of 2.0 mM S(IV), both As(V) and As(III) were selectively converted into scorodite at pH0 3.0-7.0, while As(III) oxidation and As(V) immobilization were impressed over pH0 8.0-10.0. Batch experiments, radical quenching experiments, and electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements demonstrated that ZVI initially boosted S(IV) activation to generate SO4•-, •OH, and protons, and in turn, ZVI was further oxidized more intensely by these radicals than by oxygen. Concurrently, substantial protons derived from S(IV) oxidation neutralized hydroxyls produced by ZVI oxidation, maintaining an acidic environment conducive to the generation of scorodite rather than iron (hydr)oxides. Characterizations of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) confirmed that scorodite was formed in situ and then exfoliated from the surface of ZVI, and approximately 75% of ZVI could still be recovered, which contributed to efficient As removal in successive runs and real As-polluted wastewater. The application of S(IV) achieved a balance among ZVI reactivity improvement, As(V)/As(III) removal, and raw material consumption, making it a promising approach for addressing arsenic contamination in wastewater treatment.

Unlocking the potential of surface modification with phosphate on ball milled zero-valent iron reactivity:Implications for radioactive metal ions removal

Numerous investigations have illuminated the profound impact of phosphate on the adsorption of uranium, however, the effect of phosphate-mediated surface modification on the reactivity of zero-valent iron (ZVI) remained enigmatic. In this study, a phosphate-modified ZVI (P-ZVIbm) was prepared with a facile ball milling strategy, and compared with ZVIbm, the U(VI) removal amount (435.2 mg/g) and efficiency (3.52×10-3 g·mg-1·min-1) of P-ZVIbm were disclosed nearly 2.0 and 54 times larger than those of ZVIbm respectively. The identification of products revealed that the adsorption mechanism dominated the removal process for ZVIbm, while the reactive modified layer strengthened both the adsorption pattern and reduction performance on P-ZVIbm. DFT calculation result demonstrated that the binding configuration shifted from bidentate binuclear to multidentate configuration, further shortening the Fe-U atomic distance. More importantly, the electron transferred is more accessible through the surface phosphate layer, and selectively donated to U(VI), accounting for the elevated reduction performance of P-ZVIbm. This investigation explicitly underscores the critical role of ZVI's surface microenvironment in the domain of radioactive metal ion mitigation and introduces a novel methodology to amplify the sequestration of U(VI) from aqueous environments.

Utilizing machine learning algorithm for finely three-dimensional delineation of soil-groundwater contamination in a typical industrial park, North China: Importance of multisource auxiliary data

Intensive industrial activities cause soil contamination with wide variations and even perturb groundwater safety. Precision delineation of soil contamination is the foundation and precondition for soil quality assurance in the practical environmental management process. However, spatial non-stationarity phenomenon of soil contamination and heterogeneous sampling are two key issues that affect the accuracy of contamination delineation model. Taking a typical industrial park in North China as the research object, we constructed a random forest (RF) model for finely characterizing the distribution of soil contaminants using sparse-biased drilling data. Results showed that the R2 values of arsenic and 1,2-dichloroethane predicted by RF (0.8896 and 0.8973) were greatly higher than those of inverse distance weighted model (0.2848 and 0.2908), indicating that RF was more adaptable to actual non-stationarity sites. The back propagation neural network algorithm was utilized to establish a three-dimensional visualization of the contamination parcel of subsoil-groundwater system. Multiple sources of environmental data, including hydrogeological conditions, geochemical characteristics and anthropogenic industrial activities were integrated into the model to optimize the prediction accuracy. The feature importance analysis revealed that soil particle size was dominant for the migration of arsenic, while the migration of 1,2-dichloroethane highly depended on vertical permeability coefficients of the soil. Contaminants migrated downwards with soil water under gravity-driven conditions and penetrated through the subsoil to reach the saturated aquifer, forming a contamination plume with groundwater flow. Our findings afford a new idea for spatial analysis of soil-groundwater contamination at industrial sites, which will provide valuable technical support for maintaining sustainable industry.

Enhanced arsenic(III) sequestration via sulfidated zero-valent iron in aerobic conditions: Adsorption and oxidation coupling processes

Sulfidated zero-valent iron (S-ZVI) has shown significant potential for the removal of arsenic(III). However, little attention has been paid to the mechanism of As(III) sequestration enhancement and how the phase transformation for S-ZVI strengthens this process in aerobic conditions. In this work, sulfidated ZVI was created by ball-milling (S-ZVIbm) and liquid-mixing (S-ZVIlm) of ZVI with elemental sulfur(S0) to investigate the performance and mechanisms of As(III) sequestration in air-saturated water. Sulfidation was found to significantly enhance the As(III) removal rate constant, which was 2.8 ∼ 6.7 times (S-ZVIbm) and 3.1 ∼ 17.1 times (S-ZVIlm) higher than that without sulfidation. FeS was identified as the predominant sulfur species in the S-ZVI samples using S K-edge XANES spectra. The enhanced electron transfer and ZVI corrosion after sulfidation were verified via electrochemical tests. XANES and Mössbauer spectra suggested that lepidocrocite(γ-FeOOH) was the predominant corrosion product generated on the ZVI surface with the presence of oxygen, and DFT calculations further confirmed the improved performance of γ-FeOOH for As(III) sequestration. Besides, As(III) oxidation occurred dominantly on the heterogeneous surface rather than in solution, and the As(III) sequestration pathway of adsorption followed by oxidation was proposed. This study provides new insight into the enhanced As(III) sequestration by S-ZVI in aerobic conditions.

Remediation performance of As-contaminated water and soil using a novel Fe-Mn bimetallic (oxyhydr)oxide coated on natural magnetite

It is challenging to separate the materials for treating arsenic contamination of soil and water from systems. The natural magnetite covered with Fe-Mn bimetallic (oxyhydr)oxide (Fe-Mn MSM) was effectively created in this study, and its potential use in removing As from water and soil was investigated. Batch adsorption studies showed that the As(V) adsorption on Fe-Mn MSM could achieve equilibrium after 120 min when the initial As(V) concentration was 39.85 mg/L. The calculated maximum adsorption of Fe-Mn MSM for As(V) was 17.94 mg/g at 20 °C. The mechanism of As(V) adsorption was confirmed to be a combination of ligand exchange and electrostatic attraction by the outcomes of FTIR analysis, SEM, and batch adsorption tests. Fe-Mn MSM can also be a successful amendment for cleaning up As-polluted soil. The 5% Fe-Mn MSM treatment group had the lowest exchangeable fraction of As (EX-As) concentration, 0.039 mg/kg (8.3% of initial EX-As), after 40 days. Magnetic separation could be used to quickly and completely recover the used Fe-Mn MSM from the soil. EX-As was present in higher concentrations on Fe-Mn MSM than that of the original soil. As a result, this work offers a strategy that may be put into practice to cheaply remove As from soil and water while also encouraging the reuse of natural magnetite.

Ball milling potassium ferrate activated biochar for efficient chromium and tetracycline decontamination: Insights into activation and adsorption mechanisms

Herein, novel Fe-biochar composites (MBC_BM500 and MBC_BM700) were synthesized through K₂FeO₄ co-pyrolysis and ball milling, and were used to eliminate Cr(VI)/TC from water. Characterization results revealed that higher temperature promoted formation of zero-valent iron and Fe₃C on MBC_BM700 through carbothermal reduction between K₂FeO₄ and biochar. The higher specific surface area and smaller particle size of MBC_BM500/700 stemmed from the corrosive functions of K and the ball milling process. And the maximal uptake amount of MBC_BM700 for Cr(VI)/TC was 117.49/90.31 mg/g, relatively higher than that of MBC_BM500 (93.86/84.15 mg/g). Furthermore, ion exchange, pore filling, precipitation, complexation, reduction and electrostatic attraction were proved to facilitate the adsorption of Cr(VI), while hydrogen bonding force, pore filling, complexation and π-π stacking were the primary pathways to eliminate TC. This study provide a reasonable design of Fe-carbon materials for Cr(VI)/TC contained water remediation, which required neither extra modifiers nor complex preparation process.

Arsenic Oxidation and Removal from Water via Core-Shell MnO2@La(OH)3 Nanocomposite Adsorption

Arsenic (As(III)), more toxic and with less affinity than arsenate (As(V)), is hard to remove from the aqueous phase due to the lack of efficient adsorbents. In this study, a core-shell structured MnO₂@La(OH)₃ nanocomposite was synthesized via a facile two-step precipitation method. Its removal performance and mechanisms for As(V) and As(III) were investigated through batch adsorption experiments and a series of analysis methods including the transformation kinetics of arsenic species in As(III) removal, FTIR, XRD and XPS. Solution pH could significantly influence the removal efficiencies of arsenic. The adsorption process of As(V) occurred rapidly in the first 5 h and then gradually decreased, whereas the As(III) removal rate was relatively slower. The maximum adsorption capacities of As(V) and As(III) were up to 138.9 and 139.9 mg/g at pH 4.0, respectively. For As(V) removal, the inner-sphere complexes of lanthanum arsenate were formed through the ligand exchange reactions and coprecipitation. The oxidation of As(III) to the less toxic As(V) by δ-MnO₂ and subsequently the synergistic adsorption process by the lanthanum hydroxide on the MnO₂@La(OH)₃ nanocomposite to form lanthanum arsenate were the dominant mechanisms of As(III) removal. XPS analysis indicated that approximately 20.6% of Mn in the nanocomposite after As(III) removal were Mn(II). Furthermore, a small amount of Mn(II) and La(III) were released into solution during the process of As(III) removal. These results confirm its efficient performance in the arsenic-containing water treatment, such as As(III)-contaminated groundwater used for irrigation and As(V)-contaminated industrial wastewater.

Synergetic removal of thallium and antimony from wastewater with jacobsite-biochar-persulfate system

Both of thallium (Tl) and antimony (Sb) are toxic elements in the natural environment. Emerging Tl and Sb pollution in water has gradually gained public concerns globally. However, limited technologies are available for co-removal of Tl and Sb from wastewater. Herein, an novel system was successfully fabricated to enhance the synergetic removal of both Tl and Sb in wastewater. In this study, MnFe₂O₄-biochar composite (MFBC) facilely synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method was used as adsorbent and persulfate (PS) activator for simultaneously removing Tl and Sb from wastewater. The optimal reaction conditions for best removal efficiency of Tl and Sb simultaneously were obtained by using the response surface design combined with Box-Behnken Design (BBD) model. Results unveiled that the average removal rates of Tl and Sb can achieve 98.33% and 89.14%, respectively under the optimal reaction conditions. Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), and radical quenching experiments showed that OH^• and SO₄^•- play a critical role in the removal of Tl-Sb compound pollution. Via using different characterization, it is revealed that the mechanism of removing Tl-Sb containing wastewater by MFBC-1.4/PS system is oxidation, adsorption, complexation and ion exchange. All these results indicate that MFBC-1.4/PS technology is prospective in highly effective removal of Tl and Sb from wastewater simultaneously.