Catalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants in Aqueous Streams by Mixed Al/M-Pillared Clays (M = Fe, Cu, Mn)

Preparation and characterisation of alkali-activated blast furnace slag and Na-jarosite catalysts for catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of bisphenol A

In this study, cost-effective alkali-activated materials made from industrial side streams (blast furnace slag and Na-jarosite) were developed for catalytic applications. The catalytic activity of the prepared materials was examined in catalytic wet peroxide oxidation reactions of a bisphenol A in an aqueous solution. All materials prepared revealed porous structure and characterisation expressed the incorporation of iron to the material via ion exchange in the preparation step. Furthermore, the materials prepared exhibited high specific surface areas (over 200 m2/g) and were mainly mesoporous. Moderate bisphenol A removal percentages (35%-37%) were achieved with the prepared materials during 3 h of oxidation at pH 7-8 and 50°C. Moreover, the activity of catalysts remained after four consecutive cycles (between the cycles the catalysts were regenerated) and the specific surface areas decreased only slightly and no changes in the phase structures were observed. Thus, the prepared blast furnace slag and Na-jarosite-based catalysts exhibited high mechanical stability and showed good potential in the removal of bisphenol A from wastewater through catalytic wet peroxide oxidation.

Modification of Pillared Intercalated Montmorillonite Clay as Heterogeneous Pd Catalyst Supports

Montmorillonite clay was modified by pillaring with AlMn oxides in different Al/Mn ratios and intercalation of two kinds of N-containing polymers (i.e., chitosan (CS) and polyvinyl pyrrolidinone (PVP)) chains. The modified pillared montmorillonite clay (PM) showed a rich two-dimensional layered porous structure with tunable parameters, such as large interlayer spacing, high specific area, and large porous volume. They were then used as supports for Pd nanoparticles. As applied in coupling reactions of aryl halides with terminal alkynes, Pd@CS/AlMn-PM showed better comprehensive catalytic performance than Pd@PVP/AlMn-PM. This was mainly attributed to its higher specific area, stronger chelation to Pd species, and better solvent resistance.

Research Trends on Pillared Interlayered Clays (PILCs) Used as Catalysts in Environmental and Chemical Processes: Bibliometric Analysis

Over the last four decades, a large number of studies have been published on pillared interlayered clays (PILCs) used as adsorbent materials and catalysts or supports for transition metals in heterogeneous catalysis. Particularly, PILCs have been used for water treatment through advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) to remove organic pollutants. They have also been studied in various chemical and environmental processes. Because of the growing interest in PILCs, this article is focused on analyzing scientific publications such as research/review articles and book chapters from the last four decades (from 1980 to 2019) through a bibliometric analysis (BA) to visualize and describe research trends on PILCs. By narrowing the bibliographic search to titles, keywords, and abstracts of publications related to PILCs, using Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) (the two scientific databases), a total of 3425 documents have been retrieved. The bibliometric dataset was analyzed by VantagePoint®. The main research trends identified in the last four decades were the use of PILCs in environmental processes (34.4% of total publications) along with chemical processes (petrochemical reactions 17.5%, SCR NOx 10.8%, and decomposition 8.2%). In environmental processes, PILCs have been used in photo-oxidation (32%), CWPO (21.1%), and heterogeneous catalysis (19.4%). Phenols, dyes, and VOCs have been the main pollutants studied using PILCs as catalysts. Fe, Ti, Zr, Cu, and Co are the most supported active phases in PILCs. Other research trends grouped by characterization techniques, countries, research areas, institutes, scientific journals that have published the most on this topic, number of publications per 5-year period, and most frequently used keywords through the last four decades have been identified. It was determined that the number of publications on PILCs has increased since 1980 and the countries with the highest number of publications are China, Spain, and The United States of America.

Guidelines to Study the Adsorption of Pesticides onto Clay Minerals Aiming at a Straightforward Evaluation of Their Removal Performance

Natural and modified clay minerals have been extensively used for the adsorption/desorption of organic substances, especially pesticides, from waters and wastewater, aiming at pollution control and more efficient use of the herbicides through controlled release. While natural clay minerals efficiently remove organic cations such as paraquat and diquat, the adsorption of anionic or neutral species demands surface chemical modification with, for instance, quaternary ammonium salts containing long alkyl chains. Basic pesticides, on the other hand, are better absorbed in clay minerals modified with polycations. Kinetic studies and adsorption/desorption isotherms provide the parameters needed to evaluate the clay mineral’s adsorptive performance towards the pollutant target. However, the direct comparison of these parameters is complicated because the experimental conditions, the analytical techniques, the kinetic and isotherm models, and the numerical fitting method differ among the various studies. The free-energy-related Langmuir constant depends on the degree of site occupation; that is, it depends on the concentration window used to construct the adsorption isotherm and, consequently, on the analytical technique used to quantify the free concentrations. This paper reviews pesticides’ adsorption on natural and modified clay minerals and proposes guidelines for designing batch adsorption/desorption studies to obtain easily comparable and meaningful adsorption parameters. Articles should clearly describe the experimental conditions such as temperature, contact time, total concentration window, the solution to adsorbent ratio, the analytical technique, and its detection and quantification limits, besides the fitting models. Research should also evaluate the competitive effects of humic substances, colloidal inorganic particles, and ionic strength to emulate real-world adsorption experiments.

Visible-Light Enhanced Catalytic Wet Peroxide Oxidation of Natural Organic Matter in the Presence of Al/Fe-Pillared Clay

An Al/Fe-pillared clay catalyst (Al/Fe-PILC) prepared from low cost technical-grade reagents has been investigated in the photocatalytic Wet Peroxide Oxidation (photo-CWPO) of dissolved Natural Organic Matter (NOM) under circumneutral pH. The successful pillaring of the layered clay material was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption at −196 °C, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and simultaneous thermal analysis (TGA/DSC). High levels of mineralization of the dissolved organic carbon and color removal of a synthetic NOM surrogate solution were achieved even under natural lab’s lighting and ambient temperature and pressure, whereas the absence of radiation (in dark) was found to strongly affect the performance of the degradation. The photo-CWPO of NOM activated by the Al/Fe-PILC clay catalyst under visible light irradiation (LED lamp, 450 and 550 nm peaks) displayed a DOC mineralization of 72% and color removal of 73% in just 210 min of irradiation at neutral pH, whereas both responses decayed under ultraviolet lightning (λ: 365 nm) to 41% and 58%, respectively. This behavior is ascribed to formation of triplet states of natural organic matter (3NOM*) by absorption of visible light, which seems to synergistically improve the rate-determining step of the heterogeneous Fenton process, namely reduction of Fe3+ into Fe2+ on the surface of the clay catalyst. Interestingly, experiments performed at neutral and pH 3.0 showed very similar efficiencies under visible light irradiation; these findings may really facilitate the application of the photo-CWPO process to assist conventional drinking water treatment plants in the removal of NOM before the typical disinfection by chlorine to produce safer drinking water.

Copper nickel co-impregnation of Moroccan yellow clay as promising catalysts for the catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of caffeine

Copper and nickel were incorporated into the prepared yellow clay (YC) using one of the most widely used methods, for the preparation of heterogeneous catalysts, which is the wet impregnation method (IPM) and its application as a heterogeneous catalyst for Caffeine (CAF). Several catalysts Cooper Nickel's Catalysts (Cu–Ni) were applied to the yellow clay with different weight ratio of Cu and Ni, in order to explore the role of both metals during the catalytic oxidation process CWPO. Furthermore, the CuNi-YC catalysts, were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Langmuir's surface area, Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES), so as to get a better understanding concerning the catalytic activity's behavior of CuNi-YC catalysts. The optimization of the catalytic activity's effects on the different weight ratios of Cu and Ni, temperature and H₂O₂ were also examined, using Box-Behnken Response Surface Methodology RSM to enhance the CAF conversion. The analysis of variances (ANOVA) demonstrates that Box-Behnken model was valid and the CAF conversion reached 86.16%, when H₂O₂ dosage was equal to 0.15 mol.L⁻¹, copper impregnated (10%) and temperature value attained 60 °C. In addition, the regeneration of catalyst's cycles under the optimum conditions, indicated the higher stability up to four cycles without a considerable reduction in its conversion performance.

Carbon dioxide adsorption behaviors of aluminum-pillared montmorillonite-supported alkaline earth metals

The Al-pillared montmorillonite-supported alkaline earth metal 5M/Al-PILC (PILC = pillared clay, M = Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba) and xMg/Al-PILC (x = 1, 3, 5, and 7 wt.%) samples were prepared using an impregnation method. Physical properties of the materials were determined by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and N₂ adsorption-desorption, and their CO₂ adsorption behaviors were investigated using the thermogravimetric analyzer (TG), CO₂ temperature-programmed desorption (CO₂-TPD), and in situ diffuse reflectance infrared transform spectroscopy (in situ-DRIFTS) techniques. It is shown that 5Mg/Al-PILC possessed the highest CO₂ adsorption capacity (2.559 mmol/g). The characterization results indicate that Al-pillaring increased the specific surface area of montmorillonite, which was beneficial for the adsorption of CO₂. The CO₂ adsorption process on the sample was mainly chemical adsorption, and alkalinity was the main factor influencing its adsorption capacity. The alkalinity of the sample was enhanced by loading an appropriate amount of alkaline earth metal, and the adsorbed CO₂ was present in the form of bicarbonate and carbonate. In addition, the 5Mg/Al-PILC sample exhibited an excellent regeneration efficiency. We believe that the outcome of this research would provide a good option for developing highly effective CO₂ adsorption materials.

Removal of p-aminobenzenesulfanilamide from water solutions by catalytic photo-oxidation over Fe-pillared clay

The catalytic photo-oxidation of p-aminobenzenesulfanilnamide (ABS) with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of Fe-pillared clay as heterogeneous catalyst has been investigated under UV-irradiation (λ_max = 254 nm). Fe-pillared clay was synthesized by intercalating the iron polyhydroxycomplexes into the interlayer space of a natural layered aluminosilicate - montmorillonite and a subsequent heat treatment at 500 °C. The catalyst was characterized by chemical analysis, low temperature nitrogen adsorption and XRD. The kinetics of photocatalytic oxidative degradation of ABS in aqueous solutions under various experimental conditions was studied. The dependence of the photo-oxidation rate on such experimental factors as pH, hydrogen peroxide concentration and catalyst content was established. The conversion of ABS was 100% and the mineralization efficiency was 52.3% at optimal conditions. The intermediate products of ABS photo-oxidation identified by HPLC were a sulfanilic acid, benzenesulfonamide, benzenesulfonic acid, hydroquinone, pyrocatechol, benzoquinone and aliphatic acids. Fe-pillared clay remained highly active in three consecutive catalytic cycles without regeneration. The results of the study suggested that the heterogeneous photo-system «Fe-pillared clay/H₂O₂/UV» was effective in the oxidative degradation of aminobenzenesulfanilnamide. This system may be of interest for use in organic wastewater treatment processes.

Mathematical modelling of MS2 virus inactivation by Al/Fe-PILC-activated catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO)

Catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) is a novel, alternative technology to conventional disinfection methods that are widely used to control microbial parameters in drinking water. To assess its effectiveness, new studies revealing the kinetics of MS2 coliphage inactivation by CWPO technology are required. This investigation therefore aimed to perform mathematical modelling of MS2 inactivation through CWPO technology activated by an Al/Fe-pillared clay catalyst (Al/Fe-PILC) in the presence of a synthetic surrogate of dissolved natural organic matter. The inactivation constant was obtained from two different statistical approaches, and the experimental data were better fitted to the pseudo-first-order Chick-Watson model in which the inactivation rate is constant. For this model, the maximum inactivation rate was k = 0.1648 min^-1, which was achieved in the MS2-3 catalytic test using an initial mass ratio of peroxide to active iron (Fe_act) of 1.2 mg H₂O₂/mg Fe_act. To estimate the inactivation rate due to reactive oxygen species (ROS), we supposed that the inactivation constant depends on both ROS and Fe_act. In this case, the maximum inactivation rate due to ROS was k_r = 2.4 × 10^-9 min^-1 (using 1.17 mg H₂O₂/mg Fe_act), which was achieved in the MS2-10 trial; both cases led to the conclusion that the optimal initial ratio of peroxide to active Fe in the catalyst in CWPO activated by Al/Fe-PILC was close to 1.2 mg H₂O₂/mg Fe_act. These kinetic studies showed that rapid inactivation takes place very early in the reaction, followed by slow inactivation during the remaining period of the recorded reaction time. This research revealed the strong potential of CWPO technology to improve microbiological parameters in drinking water due to the high catalytic performance in the heterogeneous Fenton reaction displayed by Fe sites incorporated in the Al/Fe-PILCs.

Chitosan modified Ti-PILC supported PdOx catalysts for coupling reactions of aryl halides with terminal alkynes

Biopolymer of chitosan (CS) and titanium pillared clays (Ti-PILCs) have been combined in a hybrid as advanced supports for immobilization of PdOx=0,1 species to prepare novel PdOx=0,1@Ti-PILC/CS nano-composite catalysts. The Ti-PILC materials showed high specific surface areas and abundant meso-porous structure with many irregular pore channels caused by collapses of layered structure of clay during Ti pillaring process. Both CS chains and sub-nano sized PdOx particles were successfully incorporated into the pore channels of Ti-PILC, resulting in a decrease in both the specific surface areas and uniform distribution of pore size. Besides conventional methods characterizations, the strong interactions between PdOx species and Ti-PILC/CS support were further evidenced with positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy studies. The resultant PdOx@Ti-PILC/CS catalyst was highly active for the coupling reactions of aryl halides with phenyl acetylenes. It was recyclable and gave excellent yield up to 13 runs with low leaching of Pd species.

Preparation of Al/Fe-PILC clay catalysts from concentrated precursors: enhanced hydrolysis of pillaring metals and intercalation

The modification of bentonite with Al–Fe species from different concentrated precursors at both stages: (i) the preparation of the (Al/Fe)-mixed pillaring solution and (ii) intercalation itself, was studied at lab scale. The final solids were characterized by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Cationic Exchange Capacity (CEC), textural analyses by nitrogen adsorption–desorption at 77 K, and hydrogen-temperature programmed reduction (H₂-TPR). Finally, the modified clays were assessed as active materials in the Catalytic Wet Peroxide Oxidation (CWPO) of phenol under very mild conditions through 1.0 h of reaction: T = 25.0 °C ± 0.1 °C, pH = 3.7, ambient pressure (76 kPa), and 0.5 g catalyst per dm³. Metal hydrolysis by the dissolution of elemental aluminium (final Total Metal Concentration TMC = 4.62 mol dm⁻³) achieved the best results, decreasing the volume of solution per mass unit of clay required to successfully expand the layered starting mineral by a factor of close to 75, in comparison with the widespread conventional preparation using highly diluted Al-based pillaring solutions. Even in the absence of any solvent for the clay dispersion, the intercalating/pillaring method was shown to be favourable, as a novel strategy promoting the process intensification and subsequent preparation of Al/Fe- and other Al-based pillared clays at larger scales. The best catalyst prepared from concentrated precursors exhibited 79.1% phenol conversion, 19.3% TOC mineralization, and pretty low iron leaching (0.037 mg Fe dm⁻³; ∼0.12% w/w) in such a short catalytic assessment; all these results were quite comparable or even exceeded those exhibited by the catalyst prepared from dilute precursors.

Significantly intensified preparation of Al/Fe-hydrolysed-pillaring solutions and solvent-free intercalation of bentonites yielding Al/Fe-PILCs highly active in catalytic wet peroxide oxidation.

CWPO Degradation of Methyl Orange at Circumneutral pH: Multi-Response Statistical Optimization, Main Intermediates and by-Products

The catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) of the industrial azo-dye methyl orange (MO) activated by an Al/Fe-pillared clay catalyst was optimized by the Response-Surface Methodology (RSM). Three sequential sets of factorial 2k central composite experiments were required for the full optimization of the process; catalyst loading and stoichiometric dose of hydrogen peroxide were the experimental factors studied through different times of reaction by means of all, Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) removal, Total Nitrogen (TN) removal, reacted fraction of hydrogen peroxide, and decolorization as experimental responses to be maximized. The resulting single-response RSM optimums were combined in a multi-response Desirability function ruling out the differential effect of adsorption on the catalyst's surface by defining all responses per gram of clay catalyst. Former two statistical sets of experiments (DOE-1 and DOE-2) showed the CWPO degradation of MO to get favored at increasing both catalyst loading and time of reaction (up to 180 min). Afterwards, third final design of experiments (DOE-3) displayed 75% of DOC removal, 78% of TN removal, 97% of reacted H2O2, and 95% of decolorization by using a catalyst loading of 5.0 g/L of Al/Fe-PILC together with just 50% of the stoichiometric amount of H2O2. The multi-response optimum conditions based on the Desirability function showed excellent fitting explaining at least 99.3% of the optimal overall responses at 95% of confidence. A further analysis revealed that no one of the non-controllable variables under real conditions of industrial wastewater treatment (covariates): starting total organic carbon (TOC) (2.0-20 mg/L), temperature (5.0-25°C) or circumneutral pH (6.0-9.0), exhibited statistically significant effect (P > 0.05), suggesting the system to be almost insensitive against them within studied range of close to ambient conditions in the tropic. Finally, HPLC/PDA and GC/FID measurements identified phenol, cyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-dione, phenylamine, N-methylaniline and N,N-dimethylaniline in very low concentrations as main intermediates in the CWPO degradation of MO, which nevertheless disappeared over 90 min of treatment. Meanwhile, 4-aminobenzenesulfonic and oxalic acids were recorded as unique by-products at final time of reaction, but both of them fairly less toxic than the starting azo-dye.

Wet Peroxide Oxidation of Paracetamol Using Acid Activated and Fe/Co-Pillared Clay Catalysts Prepared from Natural Clays

Many pharmaceuticals have been recently identified at trace levels worldwide in the aquatic environment. Among them, the highly consumed paracetamol (PCM), an analgesic and antipyretic drug, is largely being accumulated in the aquatic environment due to inefficient removal by conventional sewage treatment plants. This work deals with the treatment of PCM, used as a model pharmaceutical contaminant of emerging concern, by catalytic wet peroxide oxidation using clay-based materials as catalysts. The catalysts were prepared from natural clays, extracted from four different deposits using acid-activated treatment, calcination, and pillarization with Fe and Co. Pillared clays show the highest catalytic activity owing to the presence of metals, allowing to remove completely the PCM after 6 h under the following operating conditions: CPCM = 100 mg L−1, CH2O2 = 472 mg L−1, Ccat = 2.5 g L−1, initial pH = 3.5 and T = 80 °C. The prepared materials presented high stability since leached iron was measured at the end of reaction and found to be lower than 0.1 mg L−1.

MS2 coliphage inactivation by Al/Fe PILC-activated Catalytic Wet Peroxide Oxidation: multiresponse statistical optimization

The optimization of the Catalytic Wet Peroxide Oxidation (CWPO) assisted by an Al/Fe-pillared clay (Al/Fe-PILC) was assessed in the inactivation of the MS2 coliphage in the presence of a synthetic surrogate of natural organic matter (NOM). The simultaneous effect of two experimental factors (i) H₂O₂ dose - (H₂O₂)_d (3.00-25.50 % of the H₂O₂ theoretically required for full mineralization) and (ii) catalyst concentration (0.33-2.60 g/L), and four non-controllable variables (covariates) (a) circumneutral pH (6.00-9.00), (b) temperature (5.00-25.0 °C), (c) synthetic NOM concentration (2.0-20.0 mg C/L) and (d) MS2 titer (10⁴, 10⁵ and 10⁶ PFU/mL) was investigated by Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Every response was modeled and maximized: (1) MS2 inactivation, (2) fraction of reacted H₂O₂, (3) decolourization and (4) NOM mineralization. Multi-response optimization via desirability function based on responses (1) to (3) achieved excellent fitting (0.94 out of 1.0) and following set of optimal experimental conditions: 0.33 g Al/Fe-PILC/L, 3.36 % (H₂O₂)_d ​(Fe_active/H₂O₂) = 0.46, giving rise to 92.9 % of MS2 inactivation and 100 % of reacted H₂O₂ at pH 7.07, 25.0 +/- 0.1 °C, 16.06 mg C/L as starting NOM concentration, and MS2 titer of 10⁶ PFU/mL after just 70 min ​of reaction.

2D Oxide Nanomaterials to Address the Energy Transition and Catalysis

2D oxide nanomaterials constitute a broad range of materials, with a wide array of current and potential applications, particularly in the fields of energy storage and catalysis for sustainable energy production. Despite the many similarities in structure, composition, and synthetic methods and uses, the current literature on layered oxides is diverse and disconnected. A number of reviews can be found in the literature, but they are mostly focused on one of the particular subclasses of 2D oxides. This review attempts to bridge the knowledge gap between individual layered oxide types by summarizing recent developments in all important 2D oxide systems including supported ultrathin oxide films, layered clays and double hydroxides, layered perovskites, and novel 2D-zeolite-based materials. Particular attention is paid to the underlying similarities and differences between the various materials, and the subsequent challenges faced by each research community. The potential of layered oxides toward future applications is critically evaluated, especially in the areas of electrocatalysis and photocatalysis, biomass conversion, and fine chemical synthesis. Attention is also paid to corresponding novel 3D materials that can be obtained via sophisticated engineering of 2D oxides.

Preparation of Fe-Cu-kaolinite for catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of 4-chlorophenol

Fe-Cu-kaolinites were prepared by co-precipitation and hydrothermal methods, and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), where 2 wt.% natural kaolinite was dispersed, and the ratios of (Al + Fe + Cu)/clay = 10 mmol/g and Al/(Fe + Cu) = 5/1 were maintained. The effect of different drying methods (vacuum drying, ethanol exchange drying, freeze-drying, microwave drying, normal oven drying) and different Fe/Cu molar ratio (0/2, 0.4/1.6, 0.8/1.2, 1/1, 1.2/0.8, 1.6/0.4, 2/0) was also assessed. Catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) reaction of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) was used to probe the reactivity and activity of the materials prepared. The results showed that Fe and Cu could be successfully intercalated into the interlayer of kaolinite by hydrothermal method, where specific surface area and pore volume increased by 19 times and 7 times, respectively; the intensity of basal space (001) reflection peak was reduced by 80%, and tip width was doubly increased. The catalyst possessed higher reactivity, with 85.5% of 4-CP conversion being observed, whereas only 15.2% of 4-CP was removed over raw kaolinite. High-power microwave drying (720 W) was the best drying method, because it resulted in greater microstructure and thus higher reactivity (85.3% of 4-CP conversion), with lower active metal (Fe or Cu) leaching (3.96 mg L^-1). Fe/Cu molar ratio of 0.8-1.0/1.2-1.0 was considered as the optimum ratio in pillaring solution, for maintaining higher catalytic activity (85-90% of 4-CP conversion) and lower metal (Fe or Cu) leaching (7-9.3 mg L^-1).

Synthesis and application of pillared clay heterogeneous catalysts for wastewater treatment: a review

The use of pillared interlayered clays (PILCs) as heterogenous catalysts in wastewater treatment technologies, particularly advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), is gaining popularity for the treatment of refractory wastewater effluents. The recent literature involving these solid materials is reviewed, with more focus on studies that aim at reducing the synthesis costs and escalating the synthesis process to industrial scale. Their role as active solid materials in the AOPs such as photocatalysis, catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO), the Fenton process and catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of refractory organic compounds in polluted aqueous streams is also reviewed. These processes are evaluated to evidence their main direction for future research, particularly with reference to possible industrial use of these technologies to treat refractory organic wastewater using pillared clay-based catalysts. The pillared clay catalysts demonstrate good application prospects for the removal of refractory wastewater effluents using AOP technology. The reviewed studies suggest that the photocatalytic process is useful in low concentrations of these compounds, while CWPO, the Fenton process and CWAO are recommended for higher concentrations. However, catalyst development to reduce the severity of oxidation reaction conditions, with focus on the low cost, catalyst stability, reusability and environmental friendliness are the key aspects to be addressed by future research work.

Preparation of Al/Fe-Pillared Clays: Effect of the Starting Mineral

Four natural clays were modified with mixed polyoxocations of Al/Fe for evaluating the effect of the physicochemical properties of the starting materials (chemical composition, abundance of expandable clay phases, cationic exchange capacity and textural properties) on final physicochemical and catalytic properties of Al/Fe-PILCs. The aluminosilicate denoted C2 exhibited the highest potential as starting material in the preparation of Al/Fe-PILC catalysts, mainly due to its starting cationic exchange capacity (192 meq/100 g) and the dioctahedral nature of the smectite phase. These characteristics favored the intercalation of the mixed (Al_13−x/Fe_x)⁷⁺ Keggin-type polyoxocations, stabilizing a basal spacing of 17.4 Å and high increase of the BET surface (194 m²/g), mainly represented in microporous content. According to H₂-TPR analyses, catalytic performance of the incorporated Fe in the Catalytic Wet Peroxide Oxidation (CWPO) reaction strongly depends on the level of location in mixed Al/Fe pillars. Altogether, such physicochemical characteristics promoted high performance in CWPO catalytic degradation of methyl orange in aqueous medium at very mild reaction temperatures (25.0 ± 1.0 °C) and pressure (76 kPa), achieving TOC removal of 52% and 70% of azo-dye decolourization in only 75 min of reaction under very low concentration of clay catalyst (0.05 g/L).

Chloride ions promoted the catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of phenol over clay-based catalysts

Catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) of phenol over clay-based catalysts in the presence and absence of NaCl was investigated. Changes in the H2O2, Cl(-), and dissolved metal ion concentration, as well as solution pH during phenol oxidation, were also studied. Additionally, the intermediates formed during phenol oxidation were detected by liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy and the chemical bonding information of the catalyst surfaces was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results showed that the presence of Cl(-) increased the oxidation rate of phenol to 155%, and this phenomenon was ubiquitous during the oxidation of phenolic compounds by H2O2 over clay-based catalysts. Cl(-)-assisted oxidation of phenol was evidenced by several analytical techniques such as mass spectroscopy (MS) and XPS, and it was hypothesized that the rate-limiting step was accelerated in the presence of Cl(-). Based on the results of this study, the CWPO technology appears to be promising for applications in actual saline phenolic wastewater treatment.

Recent advances and prospects of catalytic advanced oxidation process in treating textile effluents

In the past few years, there have been many researches on the use of different types of homogenous catalyst for the degradation of textile wastewater in conventional advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). However, homogenous AOPs suffer from few limitations, including large consumption of chemicals, acidic pH, high cost of hydrogen peroxide, generation of iron sludge, and necessity of post-treatment. Therefore, recently, there have been more researches that focus on improving the performance of conventional AOPs using heterogeneous catalysts such as titanium dioxide, nanomaterials, metal oxides, zeolite, hematite, goethite, magnetite, and activated carbon (AC). Besides, different supports such as AC that have been incorporated with transition metals and clays have been proven to have excellent catalytic activity in AOPs. This paper presents a comprehensive review of advances and prospects of catalytic AOPs for the decontamination of a wide range of synthetic and real textile wastewater. This review provides an up-to-date critical review of the information on the degradation of various textile dyes by a wide range of heterogeneous catalysts and adsorbents. The future challenges of AOPs, including chemical consumption, toxicity assessment, reactor design, and limitation of catalysts, are discussed in this paper. In addition, this paper also discusses the presence of ions, generation of by-products, and industrial applications of AOPs. Special emphasis is given to recent studies and large-scale combination of AOPs for wastewater treatment. This review paper concludes that more studies are needed for the kinetics, reactor design, and modeling of hybrid AOPs and the production of their corresponding intermediate products and secondary pollutants. A better economic model should also be developed to predict the cost of AOPs, as the treatment cost varies with dyes and textile effluents.

Fenton degradation of sulfanilamide in the presence of Al,Fe-pillared clay: Catalytic behavior and identification of the intermediates

Liquid phase catalytic degradation of sulfanilamide with H2O2 was carried out in the presence of Fe,Al/M-pillared clay (Fe,Al/M-MM, M=Na(+), Ca(2+) and Ba(2+)) as heterogeneous Fenton type catalyst. Fe,Al/M-MMs were prepared by swelling of layered aluminosilicate (90-95 wt.% montmorillonite) from a bed located in Mukhortala (Buryatia, Russia) in Na(+), Ca(2+) and Ba(2+) forms by means of the exchange of these cations with bulky Fe,Al-polyoxocations prepared at Al/Fe=10/1 and OH/(Al+Fe)=2.0, and then calcinated at 500°C. XRD method and chemical analysis demonstrated that the rate of crystalline swelling was dependent on the interlayer cations and decreased in the order: Fe,Al-/Na-MM>Fe,Al/Ca-MM>Fe,Al/Ba-MM. It was found that the catalytic properties of Fe,Al/M-MMs depended on the type of exchangeable cations. The effect of the H2O2/sulfanilamide molar ratio, the catalyst content, the reaction temperature and the reaction pH on the removal rate of sulfanilamide has been studied in the presence of Fe,Al/Na-MM. The catalyst can be applied for degradation of sulfanilamide with H2O2 for at least three successive cycles without loss of activity. HPLC analyses pointed out that the main degradation intermediate products were sulfanilic acid, benzenesulfonic acid, p-benzoquinone and aliphatic carboxylic acids.