Efficient removal of Cd2+ by diatom frustules self-modified in situ with intercellular organic components

The organic modification of three-dimensional porous diatom frustules (biosilica) and their fossils (diatomite) is promising in heavy metal adsorption. However, the preparation of such materials involves complex processes, high costs, and environmental hazards. In this study, organic-biosilica composites based on in situ self-modification of diatoms were prepared by freeze-drying pretreatment. Freeze-drying resulted in the release of the intercellular organic components of diatoms, followed by loading on the surface of their diatom frustules. The bio-adsorbent exhibits outstanding Cd²⁺ adsorption capacity (up to 220.3 mg/g). The adsorption isotherms fitted the Langmuir model and the maximum adsorption capacity was 4 times greater than that of diatom biosilica (54.1 mg/g). The adsorption kinetics of Cd²⁺ was adequately described by a pseudo-second-order model and reached equilibrium within 30 min. By combining focused ion beam thinning with transmission electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, the internal structure of the composite and the Cd²⁺ distribution were investigated. The results showed that the organic matter of the composite adsorbed approximately 10 times more Cd²⁺ than inorganic biosilica. The adsorption mechanism was dominated by complexation between the abundant organic functional groups (amide, carboxyl, and amino groups) on the surfaces of composite and Cd²⁺. The bio-adsorbent was demonstrated to have wide applicability in the presence of competitive cations (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, and Mg²⁺) and under a wide range of pH (3-10) conditions. Thus, the self-modification of diatoms offers a promising organic-inorganic composite for heavy metal remediation.

Variation behavior of organic compounds in melamine-urea-formaldehyde impregnated bond paper in different pyrolysis stages

Melamine-urea-formaldehyde impregnated bond paper (MUF) is widely used as panel coating and decorative raw paper. Inappropriate treatment of MUF may lead to environmental pollution. In this study, routine MUF and MUF treated with additional titanium (MUF-T) were subjected to fast pyrolysis, and the product properties at different temperatures were investigated. The pyrolysis temperature was selected considering the reaction stages determined by Gaussian curve-fitting on thermogravimetric analysis curves. It was found that the presence of additional titanium changed the decomposition order of the organic components at 220 °C. Urea-formaldehyde in MUF could be decomposed at 220 °C, which had little effect on other components (melamine and cellulose). However, in terms of MUF-T, the decomposition temperature of urea-formaldehyde was postponed to 244 °C, which means that the pyrolysis strategy needs to choose a temperature higher than 244 °C. The volatiles in MUF-T are more easily converted to bio-gas or bio-oil than those in MUF. However, only CH₄ was observed in the bio-gas generated of MUF-T at 220 °C, indicating that titanium did not catalyze the fracture of oxygen-containing functional groups at low temperatures. Titanium condensed at 550 °C, and the utilization of bio-char may face a problem of titanium particle shedding.

Compositional components and methane production potential of typical vegetable wastes

With the development of agriculture, a huge amount of vegetable waste (VW) is produced every year, posing a large considerable environmental problem that cannot be ignored. Anaerobic digestion (AD), as an eco-friendly, efficient, and sustainable biomass conversion technology, may be used to address the pollution caused by VW. The compositional components of various VWs are different, which will affect their biomethane potential and directly determine whether they are suitable substrates for AD. Thus, this study involved a systematic analysis of the composition and biomethane potential of 20 typical VWs. The results showed that the methane yields of the VWs were different (207.5-346.3 mL/g VS) owing to the differences in composition. More importantly, a correlation between the contents of organic components and methane production was established, and then used to predict methane production by VW rapidly. In addition, first-order model, modified Gompertz, and Cone models were used to describe the biochemical methanogenesis mechanism of these VWs. The results of this study can provide a reference for fundamental research on the AD of VW as well as serve a convenient and precise method to predict methane production by different VWs through analyzing compositional components, which will be beneficial for pollution prevention and the comprehensive utilization of VW in the future.

Combined analyses of hygroscopic properties of organic and inorganic components of three representative black carbon samples recovered from pyrolysis

Hygroscopicity of black carbon (BC) aerosols is a key factor determining their climate forcing effect and atmospheric lifetime. However, the compositional dependence of BC hygroscopicity is not well understood. Here, a variety of different compositional components were separated from three representative BC samples recovered from pyrolysis (grass and wheat straw derived BC, household soot), including water extracted fraction of BC (WEBC, 9-21 wt%), residue fraction of BC after water extraction (R-WEBC, 79-91 wt%), water extracted minerals (WEM, 9-18 wt%), alkali extracted organic carbon (OC_AE, 1-9 wt%), and elemental carbon (EC, 37-48 wt%). The bulk BC and separated BC components were analyzed in detail by elemental analysis and combined spectroscopic analyses. Their equilibrium hygroscopicity was measured by gravimetric method over a range of relative humidity (RH) levels (10-94%). Compared with the two organic components (OC_AE and EC), the inorganic component (WEM) exhibited much stronger water uptake at all RH levels. At 94% RH level, WEM accounted for 16-139% of the overall water uptake by BC, whereas OC_AE and EC accounted for only 1-3% and 6-26%, respectively. The XRD analysis of WEBC and WEM from household soot at varying RH levels indicated that the enhanced water uptake by these two components as well as that by bulk BC at high RH levels was due to the deliquescent salts (e.g., KCl, NH₄Cl, KNO₃, and NaCl). The strong hysteresis loops observed for bulk BC and WEBC could be attributed to the organic-facilitated drastic structural and morphological rearrangement of mineral particles as evidenced by the optical microscope analysis. The diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) analysis reaffirmed the dominant role played by the inorganic component in the hygroscopic behaviors of BC.

Proton uptake behaviors of organic and inorganic matters in biochars prepared under different pyrolytic temperatures

As an important part of biochar, surface functional group is the key interface between biochars and other phases, as well as an essential source of biochar's alkalinity and buffer abilities. However, due to the intricate organic and inorganic structures within biochars, the contribution from organic and inorganic matters to the functional groups remains unknown. In this work, the proton uptake curves were applied to study the functional groups of biochars via titration. Pine needle (PN) derived biochars with low inorganic content was selected for analyzing the organic functional groups variation under different pyrolysis temperatures. While rice straw (RS) derived biochars and the double-acid treated rice straw (DRS) derived biochars were compared for understanding the contributions from inorganic matters. The results indicate that the sorption behavior of proton onto biochars is surface adsorption, and the functional groups variation within PN biochars keeps consistent with reactions happened during pyrolysis. The inorganic matters within RS biochars contributed significantly to the buffering ability of biochars, and it is noteworthy to find that the contribution of inorganic matters of RS350, RS500, and RS700 on the total proton uptake stabilized at 67%, 84%, and 84% in the pH range of 2-8, respectively. As far as we know, this is the first report on separating the proton uptake ability of the organic and inorganic matters for biochars. The study on the interaction between biochars and proton will improve the estimation of the fate of ionizable pollutants, and the differentiation on the organic and inorganic matter contributions would benefit the understanding of biochar organic structures and inorganic structures.

An effective recycle way of waste coke ash and coking wastewater for preparing coke ash coking wastewater slurry

The carbon riched coke ash (CA) and organic components riched coking wastewater (CW) recovered from coking plants wastes were utilized for the preparation of coke ash coking wastewater slurry (CACWS), aiming for the fuel and waste reduction and recovery. The effects induced by the properties of CA and compositions of CW on the performances of CACWS, such as slurryability, rheology, stability and dispersant adsorption were investigated and discussed. Characterizations like zeta potentials and contact angles on the surface of CA were also conducted to draw a comprehensive formation mechanism of CACWS. Results showed that the CA was suitable for preparing slurry due to the lack of micropore structures and hydrophobicity in the surface. The maximum content of CA in the as-prepared CACWS could reach 66% and CACWS exhibited non-Newtonian pseudoplastic fluid behaviour. By reducing the particle size distribution, the slurryability of CA could be effectively improved. Although the components in CW enhance the wettability of CA surface, compared with cations in CW, the organic components had more influence on CACWS, which also obviously increased the viscosity of CACWS. The maximum CA content in CACWS (ω = 66 wt%) reduced by 9% comparing to CA water slurry (ω = 75 wt%) which improved the storage stability about 10%. In addition, results show that the dispersant Triton X-405 reduced viscosity and improved stability while in comparison with the anionic polycarboxylate dispersant. Overall, this study may provide an innovative and effective utilization of CA and CW from the coke plants wastes.

Xylem-based long-distance transport and phloem remobilization of copper in Salix integra Thunb

Due to high biomass and an ability to accumulate metals, fast-growing tree species are good candidates for phytoremediation. However, little is known about the long-distance transport of heavy metals in woody plants. The present work focused on the xylem transport and phloem remobilization of copper (Cu) in Salix integra Thunb. Seedlings with 45 d preculture were grown in nutrient solutions added with 0.32 and 10 μM CuSO₄ for 5 d. Micro X-ray fluorescence imaging showed the high Cu intensity in xylem tissues of both stem and root cross sections, confirming that the xylem played a vital role in Cu transport from roots to shoots. Cu was presented in both xylem sap and phloem exudate, which demonstrates the long-distance transport of Cu via both vascular tissues. Additionally, the ⁶⁵Cu spiked mature leaf exported approximately 78 % ⁶⁵Cu to newly emerged shoots, and approximately 22 % downward to the new roots, confirming the bidirectional transport of Cu via phloem. To our knowledge, this is the first report to characterize Cu vascular transport and remobilization in fast-growing woody plants, and the findings provide valuable mechanistic understanding for the phytoremediation of Cu-contaminated soils.

Hydrothermal carbonization of sewage sludge: Effect of feed-water pH on hydrochar's physicochemical properties, organic component and thermal behavior

In this study, hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of sewage sludge(SS) was carried out at a temperature of 270℃ and a resulting pressure of 7-9 MPa with 2 h. The effect of feed water pH values in the range of 2-12 on hydrochar characteristics, organic component and thermal behavior was evaluated. The result shows that with the pH value increasing, ash content shows a trend of decline, and organic components in the hydrochar become significantly simpler than SS. hydrochar is more beneficial to produce a fatty substance during an acidic environment and alkaline environments favor the formation of N-containing organic compounds and ketone organics, especially in strongly alkaline environments. Compared to the SS, hydrochar burning interval shortened 100℃ and the combustion of hydrochar is more durable. Considering the organic composition and combustion performance of hydrochar, it is found that the hydrochar prepared under 270-5 condition has the best effect.

Supported-catalyst CuO/AC with reduced cost and enhanced activity for the degradation of heavy oil refinery wastewater by catalytic ozonation process

In this work, activated carbon-supported copper(II) oxide (CuO/AC) was prepared and used to degrade heavy oil refinery wastewater (HORW) by catalytic ozonation with the aim to develop low-cost and high-efficient supported-catalysts for degrading real recalcitrant industrial wastewater. Supported-catalyst CuO/AC was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N₂-physisorption, scanning electronic microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The degradation was mainly evaluated by chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅), biodegradability and toxicity. Compared with unsupported-catalyst CuO or the mixed system of activated-AC and unsupported-catalyst CuO, supported-catalyst CuO/AC with reduced cost exhibited significantly enhanced activity for degrading HORW (5.0 g CuO-5%/AC, 90 mg/L O₃, and 7.3 pH). TEM analysis showed that the high activity of supported-catalyst CuO-5%/AC might be ascribed to the fact that CuO particles were small and highly dispersed on AC. Mass spectrum spectrometry (MS) analysis revealed that the organic components in HORW were first degraded to small molecule oxidation products, which were then oxidized or mineralized further. The influence of CuO loading, CuO/AC dose, ozone dose and initial pH on the degradation efficiency was also investigated. The results of the present work showed that CuO/AC could be a promising supported-catalyst for catalyzing ozonation degradation of HORW.

Effect of cadmium stress on inorganic and organic components in xylem sap of high cadmium accumulating rice line (Oryza sativa L.)

Physiological properties involved in cadmium (Cd) transport were investigated in the high Cd accumulating rice line (Lu527-8) in comparison with the normal rice line (Lu527-4) through a soil culture experiment. The results showed that Cd contents in xylem saps of Lu527-8 were 1.68-2.55 times higher than those of Lu527-4 under Cd stress. A high-positive correlation between Cd contents in xylem saps and Cd contents in shoots was observed. Lu527-8 owned a more rapid and effective transport of Cd to above-ground part. By analyzing the relationship between inorganic anions, organic components and Cd contents in xylem saps, the lower HPO₄^2- and oxalate contents were considered to be related to the higher Cd transport in xylem sap of Lu527-8. As for citrate, tartaric and histidine content, significant increases were observed with the increasing Cd contents in xylem saps of two rice lines, and their contents of Lu527-8 were significantly higher than those of Lu527-4. Citrate, tartaric and histidine could take part in root-to-shoot Cd transport in xylem.