Study of diclofenac removal by the application of combined zero-valent iron and calcium peroxide nanoparticles in groundwater

Diclofenac(DCF)is one of the most frequently detected pharmaceuticals in groundwater,posing a great threat to the environment and human health due to its toxicity.To mitigate the DCF contamination,experiments on DCF degradation by the combined process of zero-valent iron nanoparticles(nZVI)and nano calcium peroxide(nCaO_(2))were performed.A batch experiment was conducted to examine the influence of the adding dosages of both nZVI and nCaO_(2)nanoparticles and pH value on the DCF removal.In the meantime,the continuous-flow experiment was done to explore the sustainability of the DCF degradation by jointly adding nZVI/nCaO_(2)nanoparticles in the reaction system.The results show that the nZVI/nCaO_(2)can effectively remove the DCF in the batch test with only 0.05 g/L nZVI and 0.2 g/L nCaO_(2)added,resulting in a removal rate of greater than 90%in a 2-hour reaction with an initial pH of 5.The degradation rate of DCF was positively correlated with the dosage of nCaO_(2),and negatively correlated with both nZVI dosage and the initial pH value.The order of significance of the three factors is identified as pH value>nZVI dosage>nCaO_(2)dosage.In the continuous-flow reaction system,the DCF removal rates remained above 75%within 150 minutes at the pH of 5,with the applied dosages of 0.5 g/L for nZVI and 1.0 g/L for nCaO_(2).These results provide a theoretical basis for the nZVI/nCaO_(2)application to remove DCF in groundwater.

Rapid recovery of rare earth elements in industrial wastewater by CuFe_2O_4 synthesized from Cu sludge

This study systematically evaluates the recovery of rare earth elements（REEs） from aqueous solution and industrial wastewater using magnetic nanoparticles CuFe2O4. The industrially manufactured CuFe2O4 displays a nonlinear isotherm for REEs adsorption, suggesting limiting binding sites on the CuFe2O4 surface. The recovery of REEs increases significantly from 0.1% to 99.99% with increasing pH（2.29-8.15）. At room temperature, the maxima recovery rates of Nd, La, and Ce are observed to be in a high capacity of 51.02, 42.02, and 40.16 mg/g, respectively. No significant attenuation of REE adsorption is observed with increasing NaCl concentration from 0.001 to 1.0 mol/L, showing high selectivity of REEs even in such high NaCl concentration matrix. In addition, desorption efficiency increases with the increasing concentration of HNO3 in the range of 0.005-0.05 mol/L. When HNO3 concentration is over 0.05 mol/L, the desorption efficiency can reach almost 100% in each batch experiment. Importantly, our results show that REEs can be sorbed and recycled from liquid crystal display（LCD） polishing wastewater, suggesting that CuFe2O4 may be a good candidate in the efficient and rapid recovery of REEs from industrial wastewater.