Environ Sci Pollut Res Int
January 2024
Water contamination by organic pollutants is a serious environmental problem. 4-Nitrophenol (4-NP) is a potentially harmful chemical, which is commonly present in industrial effluents and can severely damage human health. Photocatalytic reduction of hazardous 4-NP by nano-sized materials to produce 4-aminophenol (4-AP), which is a commercially valuable product, is a promising alternative as the process is framed within the circular economy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZnO nanorods decorated with metal nanoparticles have sparked considerable interest in recent years thanks to their suitability for a wide range of applications, such as photocatalysis, photovoltaics, antibacterial activity, and sensing devices. In this study, we prepared and investigated the improved solar-light-assisted photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanorods (NRs) decorated with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) using a conventional rhodamine B (RB) dye as a model water pollutant. We showed that the presence of Ag NPs on the surface of ZnO NRs significantly increases the degradation rate of RB dye (~0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMono-doped (Mo-TiO and W-TiO) and co-doped TiO (Co-Mo-TiO, Co-W-TiO, Cu-Mo-TiO, Cu-W-TiO, Zn-Mo-TiO, and Zn-W-TiO) catalysts were synthesized by simple impregnation methods and tested for the photocatalytic degradation of 4-tert-butylphenol in water under UV (365 nm) light irradiation. The catalysts were characterized with various analytical methods. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, Diffuse reflectance (DR) spectroscopies, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were applied to investigate the structure, optical properties, morphology, and elemental composition of the prepared catalysts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrently, there is growing scientific interest in the development of more economic, efficient and environmentally friendly municipal wastewater treatment technologies. Laboratory and pilot-scale surveys have revealed that the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) is a promising alternative for municipal wastewater treatment. Anaerobic membrane bioreactor technology combines the advantages of anaerobic processes and membrane technology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis work aimed at studying the photochemical treatment of a landfill leachate using ultraviolet light, hydrogen peroxide, and ferrous or ferric ions, in a batch recycle photoreactor. The effect of inorganic carbon presence, pH, initial H2O2 amount (0-9990 mg L-1) as well as Fe(II) (200-600 ppm) and Fe(III) (300-700 ppm) concentrations on the total carbon removal and color change was studied. Prior to the photochemical treatment, a pretreatment process was applied; inorganic nitrogen and inorganic carbon were removed by means of air stripping and initial pH regulation, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is a worldwide effort of the research community to explore the medical, economic and sociologic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many different disciplines try to find solutions and drive strategies to a great variety of different very crucial problems. The present study presents a novel analysis which results to clustering countries with respect to active cases, active cases per population and active cases per population and per area based on Johns Hopkins epidemiological data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceutical compounds contribute to the emerging pollutants in water and in many cases, they are not efficiently mineralized by conventional treatment methods. At the same time, landfills remain the main final destination of discarded drugs. In the present study, the mineralization of the Ibuprofen medicinal commercial product (Algofren) in aqueous solutions using UV irradiation, hydrogen peroxide, titanium dioxide and ferric ions was examined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the present study, the photochemical degradation of amoxicillin and total organic carbon (TOC) removal in pharmaceutical aqueous solutions was studied using UV irradiation, titanium dioxide, hydrogen peroxide and iron in a batch photoreactor operated for 120-150 min. The effect of the initial concentrations of the target compound, hydrogen peroxide and ferric ions and of their combination was examined. It was found that under direct UV photolysis, considerable TOC removals were obtained only when the initial concentration of amoxicillin (AM) was below 100 mg/L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe physical and chemical attributes of cryogels, such as the macroporosity, elasticity, water permeability and ease of chemical modification have attracted strong research interest in a variety of areas, such as water purification, catalysis, regenerative medicine, biotechnology, bioremediation and biosensors. Cryogels have shown high removal efficiency and selectivity for heavy metals, nutrients, and toxic dyes from aqueous solutions but there are challenges when scaling up from lab to commercial scale applications. This paper represents an overview of the most recent advances in the use of cryogels for the removal of heavy metals from water and attempts to fill the gap in the literature by deepening the understanding on the mechanisms involved, which strongly depend on the initial monomer composition and post-modification agent precursors used in synthesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the present work, the photocatalytic degradation and mineralization of 4-tert-butylphenol in water was studied using Fe-doped TiO nanoparticles under UV light irradiation. Fe-doped TiO catalysts (0.5, 1, 2 and 4 wt.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, the photocatalytic treatment of an organic wastewater with/without phenolic compounds by means of ultraviolet irradiation, titanium dioxide and hydrogen peroxide was examined in an annular photoreactor. Specifically, the effect of initial total carbon concentration, catalyst loading and H2O2 amount on the removal of total carbon was first examined in the case of a synthetic organic wastewater. The influence of partial carbon substitution by phenol, 2-chlorophenol, 2,4-discholophenol, trichlorophenol, and 4-nitrophenol on total carbon removal and target compounds' conversion was studied keeping constant the initial organic carbon load.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng
October 2012
In the present work, the catalytic decomposition or oxidation of ethanol over CuO/CeO(2)/γ-alumina catalysts is presented. Ethanol was oxidized in a tubular flow reactor under both oxygen excess and deficit conditions. Various amounts of ceria (0-14 % w/w) were added by wet impregnation to catalysts containing 1 % and 10 % w/w CuO on γ-Al(2)O(3).
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