Recycling of waste aluminum scraps to fabricate sulfidated zero-valent iron-aluminum particles for enhanced chromate removal

Massive waste aluminum scraps produced from the spent aluminum products have high electron capacity and can be recycled as an attractive alternative to materials based on zerovalent iron(Fe^(0))for the removal of oxidative contaminants from wastewater.This study thus proposed an approach to fabricate micron-sized sulfidated zero-valent iron-aluminum particles(S-Al^(0)@Fe^(0))with high reactivity,electron selectivity and capacity using recycled waste aluminum scraps.S-Al^(0)@Fe^(0)with a three-layer structure contained zero-valent aluminum(Al^(0))core,Fe^(0) middle layer and iron sulfide(FeS)shell.The rates of chromate(Cr(Ⅵ))removal by S-Al^(0)@Fe^(0)at pH 5.0-9.0 were 1.6-5.9 times greater than that by sulfidated zero-valent iron(S-Fe^(0)).The Cr(Ⅵ)removal capacity of S-Al^(0)@Fe^(0)was 8.2-,11.3-and 46.9-fold greater than those of S-Fe0,zero-valent iron-aluminum(Al^(0)-Fe^(0))and Fe^(0),respectively.The chemical cost of S-Al^(0)@Fe^(0) for the equivalent Cr(Ⅵ)removal was 78.5%lower than that of S-Fe^(0).Negligible release of soluble aluminum during the Cr(Ⅵ)removal was observed.The significant enhancement in the reactivity and capacity of S-Al^(0)@Fe^(0)was partially ascribed to the higher reactivity and electron density of the Al0core than Fe^(0).More importantly,S-Al^(0)@Fe^(0) served as an electric cell to harness the persistent and selective electron transfer from the Al^(0)-Fe^(0) core to Cr(Ⅵ)at the surface via coupling Fe^(0)-Fe^(2+)-Fe^(3+)redox cycles,resulting in a higher electron utilization efficiency.Therefore,S-Al^(0)@Fe^(0) fabricated using recycled waste aluminum scraps can be a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly alternative to S-Fe^(0) for the enhanced removal of oxidative contaminants in industrial wastewater.