Yttrium-modified drinking water treatment residue for efficient phosphorus removal: efficacy, mechanism, and reproducibility.

The excessive presence of phosphate can cause eutrophication in water bodies. Yttrium has an extremely high affinity for phosphorus and is capable of forming stable complexes at low concentrations. Moreover, limitations in the resourcefulness of drinking water treatment residues were observed. In this study, a highly efficient phosphorus removal adsorbent (RJDWTR@Y) was prepared by calcination-alkali leaching-yttrium-loaded composite modification employing domestic drinking water treatment residue as raw material. And the effects of multiple factors on phosphate adsorption by RJDWTR@Y were examined. The results illustrated that the maximum adsorption capacity of the RJDWTR@Y for phosphate was 319.76 mg/g, with the chemical reaction of the multilayer as the predominant adsorption process. The adsorption mechanism is electrostatic gravitational force and the inner sphere complexation effect. RJDWTR@Y was effective against interference even at high concentrations of the coexisting anion. After five cycles, the desorption efficiency of phosphate was 75.11%. Filling the fixed bed with the material can efficiently remove phosphorus from the flowing liquid. The synthesis of RJDWTR@Y and the results of the study indicated that it has good application prospects. In addition to efficiently removing phosphorus, it can also recycle waste and achieve sustainability.

Hydroxylamine facilitated catalytic degradation of methylene blue in a Fenton-like system for heat-treatment modified drinking water treatment residues.

Rational treatment of drinking water treatment residues (WTR) has become an environmental and social issue due to the risk of secondary contamination. WTR has been commonly used to prepare adsorbents because of its clay-like pore structure, but then requires further treatment. In this study, a Fenton-like system of H-WTR/HA/H2O2 was constructed to degrade organic pollutants in water. Specifically, WTR was modified by heat treatment to increase its adsorption active site, and to accelerate Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycling on the catalyst surface by the addition of hydroxylamine (HA). Moreover, the effects of pH, HA and H2O2 dosage on the degradation were discussed with methylene blue (MB) as the target pollutant. The mechanism of the action of HA was analyzed and the reactive oxygen species in the reaction system were determined. Combined with the reusability and stability experiments, the removal efficiency of MB remained 65.36% after 5 cycles. Consequently, this study may provide new insights into the resource utilization of WTR.

Facilitated transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles via hydrochars in the presence of ammonium in saturated sands: Effects of pH, ionic strength, and ionic composition.

The widespread use of nanoparticles (NPs) has led to their inevitable introduction into environmental systems. How the existence of hydrochars in crop soils will affect the mobility of nanoparticle titanium dioxide (nTiO2), especially in the presence of ammonium (NH4+), remains unknown. Research is needed to study the effects of hydrochars on the transport and retention of nTiO2 and to uncover the mechanisms of these effects on nTiO2 transport. Column experiments with nTiO2 and hydrochars were performed in various electrolyte (NaCl, NH4Cl, and CaCl2) solutions under a controlled pH (6.0 and 8.0). Additionally, the size distributions and scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) images of the NPs were observed. The experimental results suggested that the mobility of the hydrochars was much better than that of nTiO2. Thus, the mobility of nTiO2 was improved upon their attachment to the hydrochars. The facilitated transport of nTiO2 in the presence of hydrochars was stronger at pH8.0 than at pH6.0, and facilitated transport was nearly independent of the electrolyte cation at pH8.0. However, at pH6.0, the facilitated transport in various electrolytes had the following order: NaCl>NH4Cl>CaCl2. The conversion from a completely reversible to a partially irreversible deposition of nTiO2 in sand was induced by the partially irreversible retention of hydrochars, and this phenomenon was more pronounced in the presence of NH4+ than in the presence of Na+. In particular, the irreversible deposition of nTiO2-hydrochars was enhanced as the cation concentration increased. The increased irreversible retention of nTiO2 was related to the greater k2 value (irreversible attachment coefficients) on site 2 for hydrochars based on two-site kinetic retention modeling. Thus, there is a potential risk of contaminating crops, soil, and underground water when nTiO2 exists in a hydrochar-amended environment, especially when associated with NH4-N fertilizer.

Transport and aggregation of rutile titanium dioxide nanoparticles in saturated porous media in the presence of ammonium.

The widely used artificial nanoparticles (NPs) and the excess of ammonium (NH4+) fertilizers are easily released into the natural environment. So, clarifying the mobility of NPs in the presence of NH4+ is therefore of great urgency and high priority. Currently, few studies focus on the transport and deposition of nanoparticle titanium dioxide (nTiO2) in single and binary systems containing NH4+, especially describing this process by a mathematical model. In this work, the comparison between the transport and retention of rutile nTiO2 in single and binary electrolyte solutions of NH4Cl and/or NaCl (0.5-50 mM) were conducted at pH 6.0 and 8.0 through running the column experiments. Experimental results show that the aggregation and retention of nTiO2 in solution containing mono-valence cations obeys the order as follows: NH4+ > Na+ > Na+ + NH4+ at the same ion strength (IS). It is attributed to the lower critical coagulation concentration (CCC) of rutile nTiO2 in NH4+ than that in Na+ solution. In particular, the simultaneous presence of NH4+ and Na+ favors the transportability of nTiO2 due to the strong competitive adsorption on the surface of NPs. The two-site kinetic retention model provides the good simulation for their transport behavior. The likely mechanism is that the secondary energy minimum of nTiO2 in NH4+ system associated with the greater K2 at surface Site 2 (from model) on sand can be explained for the more reversible deposition. Ammonium leachate associated with NPs can thus be considered a serious concern.