Performance, Reaction Pathway and Kinetics of the Enhanced Dechlorination Degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenol by Fe/Ni Nanoparticles Supported on Attapulgite Disaggregated by a Ball Milling-Freezing Process

Attapulgite (ATP) disaggregated by a ball milling–freezing process was used to support Fe/Ni bimetallic nanoparticles (nFe/Ni) to obtain a composite material of D-ATP-nFe/Ni for the dechlorination degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), thus improving the problem of agglomeration and oxidation passivation of nanoscale zero-valent iron (nFe) in the dechlorination degradation of chlorinated organic compounds. The results show that Fe/Ni nanoparticle clusters were dispersed into single spherical particles by the ball milling–freezing-disaggregated attapulgite, in which the average particle size decreased from 423.94 nm to 54.51 nm, and the specific surface area of D-ATP-nFe /Ni (97.10 m²/g) was 6.9 times greater than that of nFe/Ni (14.15 m²/g). Therefore, the degradation rate of 2,4-DCP increased from 81.9% during ATP-nFe/Ni application to 96.8% during D-ATP-nFe/Ni application within 120 min, and the yield of phenol increased from 57.2% to 86.1%. Meanwhile, the reaction rate K_obs of the degradation of 2,4-DCP by D-ATP-nFe/Ni was 0.0277 min⁻¹, which was higher than that of ATP-nFe/Ni (0.0135 min⁻¹). In the dechlorination process of 2,4-DCP by D-ATP-nFe/Ni, the reaction rate for the direct dechlorination of 2,4-DCP of phenol (k₅ = 0.0156 min⁻¹) was much higher than that of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP, k₂ = 0.0052 min⁻¹) and 2-chlorophenol (2-CP, k₁ = 0.0070 min⁻¹), which suggests that the main dechlorination degradation pathway for the removal of 2,4-DCP by D-ATP-nFe/Ni was directly reduced to phenol by the removal of two chlorine atoms. In the secondary pathway, the removal of one chlorine atom from 2,4-DCP to generate 2-CP or 4-CP as intermediate was the rate controlling step. The final dechlorination product (phenol) was obtained when the dechlorination rate accelerated with the progress of the reaction. This study contributes to the broad topic of organic pollutant treatment by the application of clay minerals.

Highly efficient removal of chromium(VI) by Fe/Ni bimetallic nanoparticles in an ultrasound-assisted system

Highly active Fe/Ni bimetallic nanocomposites were prepared by using the liquid-phase reduction method, and they were proven to be effective for Cr(VI) removal coupled with US irradiation. The US-assisted Fe/Ni bimetallic system could maintain a good performance for Cr(VI) removal at a wide pH range of 3-9. Based on the characterization of the Fe/Ni nanoparticles before and after reaction, the high efficiency of the mixed system could attribute to the synergistic effects of the catalysis of Ni(0) and US cavitation. Ni(0) could facilitate the Cr(VI) reduction through electron transfer and catalytic hydrogenation. Meanwhile, US could fluidize the Fe/Ni nanoparticles to increase the actual reactive surface area and clean off the co-precipitated Fe(III)-Cr(III) hydroxides to maintain the active sites on the surface of the Fe/Ni nanoparticles. Thus, compared with shaking, the US-assisted Fe/Ni system was more efficient on Cr(VI) removal, which achieved 94.7% removal efficiency of Cr(VI) within 10 min. The pseudo-first-order rate constant (kobs) in US-assisted Fe/Ni system (0.5075 min(-1)) was over 5 times higher than that under shaking (0.0972 min(-1)). Moreover, the Fe/Ni nanoparticles still have a good performance under US irradiation after 26 days aging as well as regeneration.