A New Life for Tionite Industrial Waste: Regeneration Strategy towards Photocatalytic Applications.

Industrial waste management is an urgent problem to solve possibly by recycling, reuse and recovery of resources. In this framework, the sludge of the TiO manufacturing, called tionite, is of certain interest because it contains metallic oxide-bearing impurities, dangerous to the environment. Hence, we propose a strategy to recover TiO from tionite, towards its effective re-use as a photocatalyst.

Study of Innovative GO/PBI Composites as Possible Proton Conducting Membranes for Electrochemical Devices.

The appeal of combining polybenzimidazole (PBI) and graphene oxide (GO) for the manufacturing of membranes is increasingly growing, due to their versatility. Nevertheless, GO has always been used only as a filler in the PBI matrix. In such context, this work proposes the design of a simple, safe, and reproducible procedure to prepare self-assembling GO/PBI composite membranes characterized by GO-to-PBI (X:Y) mass ratios of 1:3, 1:2, 1:1, 2:1, and 3:1.

Reduced Graphene Oxide/Waste-Derived TiO Composite Membranes: Preliminary Study of a New Material for Hybrid Wastewater Treatment.

This work reports the preliminary results of the development of composite self-assembling membranes obtained by the combination of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with commercial Degussa P25 titanium dioxide (TiO). The purpose is to demonstrate the possibility of combining, in the same self-standing material, the capability to treat wastewater containing both inorganic and organic pollutants by exploiting the established ability of rGO to capture metal ions together with that of TiO to degrade organic substances. Moreover, this study also investigates the potential photocatalytic properties of tionite (TIO), to demonstrate the feasibility of replacing commercial TiO with such waste-derived TiO-containing material, fulfilling a circular economy approach.

Analysis of the Adsorption-Release Isotherms of Pentaethylenehexamine-Modified Sorbents for Rare Earth Elements (Y, Nd, La).

Waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is constantly increasing in quantity and becoming more and more heterogeneous as technology is rapidly advancing. The negative impacts it has on human and environment safety, and its richness in valuable rare earth elements (REEs), are accelerating the necessity of innovative methods for recycling and recovery processes. The aim of this work is to comprehend the adsorption and release mechanisms of two different solid sorbents, activated carbon (AC) and its pentaethylenehexamine (PEHA)-modified derivative (MAC), which were deemed adequate for the treatment of REEs deriving from WEEE.

Investigation of Sulfonated Graphene Oxide as the Base Material for Novel Proton Exchange Membranes.

This work deals with the development of graphene oxide (GO)-based self-assembling membranes as possible innovative proton conductors to be used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Nowadays, the most adopted electrolyte is Chemours' Nafion; however, it reveals significant deficiencies such as strong dehydration at high temperature and low humidity, which drastically reduces its proton conductivity. The presence of oxygenated moieties in the GO framework makes it suitable for functionalization, which is required to enhance the promising, but insufficient, proton-carrying features of GO.

Capture and Release Mechanism of Ni and La Ions via Solid/Liquid Process: Use of Polymer-Modified Clay and Activated Carbons.

This study is a starting point for the development of an efficient method for rare earths (REs) and transition metals (TMs) recovery from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) via a hydrometallurgical process. The capture and release capability of mineral clays (STx) and activated carbons (AC), pristine and modified (STx-L6 and AC-L6) with a linear penta-ethylene-hexamine (L6), towards solutions representative of the process, are assessed in the lab-scale. The solids were contacted with synthetic mono- and bi-ionic solutions containing Ni(II) and La(III) in a liquid/solid adsorption process.