Removal of fluoride using platanus acerifoli leaves biochar - an efficient and low-cost application in wastewater treatment

The fluoride with high-concentration in industrial wastewater will cause great harm to the environment and calcium-modified biochar is an effective adsorbent for the removal of fluoride. Biochar composites were prepared from mature and dried dead leaves and eggshell to remove fluoride from the aqueous solution. The effects of raw material ratio, pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, temperature, initial concentration of fluoride, and the coexisting ions on the removal efficiency of fluoride were explored. The biochar composites before and after fluoride removal were characterized by the SEM, FTIR, XRD, and XPS, which showed CaF₂ precipitation was formed during the adsorption. The kinetics and isotherm study showed that chemical adsorption was the primary step for the fluoride adsorption of the biochar composites. The removal efficiency of fluoride can reach 98.53% when the amount of adsorbent was 1.6 g/L and the fluoride concentration was 500 mg/L. The BET-specific surface area of platanus acerifoli leaves biochar was 410.14 m²/g, which was suitable for the adsorption carrier. The adsorption capacity of the biochar composite materials was as high as 308 mg/g. The platanus acerifoli leaves-eggshell biochar composite with large pore size and high removal efficiency may be used as an efficient and low-cost adsorbent for treating high-concentration fluoride-containing wastewater.

Graphene-Based Adsorbents for Arsenic, Fluoride, and Chromium Adsorption: Synthesis Methods Review

Water contamination around the world is an increasing problem due to the presence of contaminants such as arsenic, fluoride, and chromium. The presence of such contaminants is related to either natural or anthropogenic processes. The above-mentioned problem has motivated the search for strategies to explore and develop technologies to remove these contaminants in water. Adsorption is a common process employed for such proposals due to its versatility, high adsorption capacity, and lower cost. In particular, graphene oxide is a material that is of special interest due to its physical and chemical properties such as surface area, porosity, pore size as well as removal efficiency for several contaminants. This review shows the advances, development, and perspectives of materials based on GO employed for the adsorption of contaminants such as arsenite, arsenate, fluoride, and hexavalent chromium. We provided a detailed discussion of the synthesis techniques and their relationship with the adsorption capacities and other physical properties as well as pH ranges employed to remove the contaminants. It is concluded that the adsorption capacity is not proportional to the surface area in all the cases; instead, the synthesis method, as well as the functional groups, play an important role. In particular, the sol-gel synthesis method shows better adsorption capacities.

Removal of fluoride from industrial wastewater by using different adsorbents: A review

Many industries such as iron and steel metallurgy, copper and zinc smelting, the battery industry, and cement manufacturing industries discharge high concentrations of fluoride-containing wastewater into the environment. Subsequently, the discharge of high fluoride effluent serves as a threat to human life as well as the ecological ability to sustain life. This article analyses the advantages and drawbacks of some fluoride remediation technologies such as precipitation and flocculation, membrane technology, ion exchange technology, and adsorption technology. Among them, adsorption technology is considered the obvious choice and the best applicable technology. As such, several adsorbents with high fluoride adsorption capacity such as modified alumina, metal oxides, biomass, carbon-based materials, metal-organic frameworks, and other adsorption materials including their characteristics have been comprehensively summarized. Additionally, different adsorption conditions of the various adsorbents, such as pH, temperature, initial fluoride concentration, and contact time have been discussed in detail. The study found out that the composite synergy between different materials, morphological and structural control, and the strengthening of their functional groups can effectively improve the ability of the adsorbents for removing fluoride. This study has prospected the direction of various adsorbents for removing fluoride in wastewater, which would serve as guiding significance for future research in the field.

Hollandite-type β-FeOOH(Cl) as a new cathode material for chloride ion batteries

β-FeOOH is utilized as a new cathode material for rechargeable chloride ion batteries for the first time. β-FeOOH has superior rate capabilities and a high reversible capacity of 122 mA h g^-1 after 100 cycles. This work opens up new possibilities for the development of anion batteries.

Transformation pathway and degradation mechanism of methylene blue through β-FeOOH@GO catalyzed photo-Fenton-like system

To enhance the catalytic and separation properties of akaganéite nanoparticles, rice spike-like akaganéite impregnated graphene oxide (β-FeOOH@GO) nanocomposite was fabricated through facile hydrolysis. The apparent first-order decolorization rate of methylene blue (MB) in β-FeOOH@GO catalyzed photo Fenton-like system was 0.6322 min^-1 about 3 folds that of prinstine β-FeOOH nanoparticles. The degradation intermediates of MB adsorbed on the solid surface of β-FeOOH@GO were comprehensively identified with time of flight-secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS) for the first time. Newly identified sulfoxide intermediates, sulphone intermediates and desulfurization intermediates and N-demethylaton or dedimethamine intermediates were reported for the first time. The proposed degradation pathway of MB predominantly proceeded with the rupture of phenothiazine rings oxided with OH, and singlet oxygen (¹O₂) radicals, which fully extending the reaction pathways proposed in previous work in literature. The enhanced catalytic activity of β-FeOOH@GO was ascribed to the formation of heterojunctions confirmed by the presence of FeOC chemical bonds through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The complete elimination of MB and its acute toxicity to Luminous bacteria showed that β-FeOOH@GO would be served as a highly efficient Fenton-like catalyst for treatment of high concentration refractory organic contaminant.