Highly efficient adsorption of ciprofloxacin from aqueous solutions by waste cation exchange resin-based activated carbons: Performance, mechanism, and theoretical calculation.

This study focused on the preparation of a highly efficient activated carbon adsorbent from waste cation exchange resins through one-step carbonization to remove ciprofloxacin (CIP) from aqueous solutions. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the physicochemical properties of the carbonized materials. The CIP removal efficiency, influencing factors, and adsorption mechanisms of CIP on the carbonized resins were investigated. Density functional theory (DFT) computations were performed to elucidate the adsorption mechanisms. The CIP removal reached 93 % when the adsorbent dosage was 300 mg/L at 25 °C. The adsorption capacity of the carbonized resins to CIP gradually decreased with an increasing pH from 3.0 to 7.0 and sharply declined with a pH from 7.0 to 11.0. The adsorption process better fitted by the pseudo second-order kinetic and Langmuir models, indicating that the interaction between CIP and the carbonized resins was monolayer adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacity fitted by the Langmuir model was 384.4 mg/g at 25 °C. Microstructural analysis showed that the adsorption of CIP on the carbonized resins was a joint effect of H-bonding, ion exchange, and graphite-N adsorption. Computational results signified the strong H-bonding and ion exchange interactions existed between CIP and carbonized resins. The high adsorption and reusability suggest that waste cation exchange resin-based activated carbons can be used as an effective and reusable adsorbent for removing CIP from aqueous solutions.

Chalcopyrite functionalized ceramic membrane for micropollutants removal and membrane fouling control via peroxymonosulfate activation: The synergy of nanoconfinement effect and interface interaction.

This work developed a novel chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) incorporated catalytic ceramic membrane (CFSCM), and comprehensively evaluated the oxidation-filtration efficiency and mechanism of CFSCM/peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for organics removal and membrane fouling mitigation. Results showed that PMS activation was more efficient in the confined membrane pore structure. The CFSCM50/PMS filtration achieved almost complete removal of 4-Hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HBA) under the following conditions: pH = 6.0, CPMS = 0.5 mM, and C4-HBA = 10 mg/L. Meanwhile, the membrane showed good stability after multiple uses. During the reaction, SO4•- and •OH were generated in the CFSCM50/PMS system, and SO4•- was considered to be the dominant reactive species for pollutant removal. The roles of copper, iron, and sulfur species, as well as the possible catalytic mechanism were also clarified. Besides, the CFSCM50/PMS catalytic filtration exhibited excellent antifouling properties against NOM with reduced reversible and irreversible fouling resistances. The Extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (XDLVO) theory analysis showed an increased in repulsive energy at the membrane-foulant interface in the CFSCM50/PMS system. Membrane fouling model analysis indicated that standard blocking was the dominant fouling pattern for CFSCM50/PMS filtration. Overall, this work demonstrates an efficient catalytic filtration process for foulants removal and outlines the synergy of catalytic oxidation and interface interaction.

Effective remediation of leachate concentrate by peroxymonosulfate in a catalytic ceramic membrane filtration process: Performance and mechanism.

Membrane concentrated landfill leachate has been characterized by complex component and degradation resistant. In this work, a new catalytic ceramic membrane (CuCM) was developed by in-situ integrating copper oxide in the membrane and used in combination with peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for leachate concentrate treatment. The performance and key factors of the CuCM/PMS system were systematically studied. Results showed that the CuCM/PMS system experienced promising efficiency in the pH range of 3 âˆ¼ 11. The highest COD, TOC, UV254 and Color removal efficiency achieved by the CuCM-3/PMS system under the conditions of pH = 7.0 and CPMS = 10 mM, which reached up to 63.4%, 50.5%, 75.1% and 90.2%, respectively. The possible mechanism of leachate remediation was proposed and non-free radicals (Cu(Ⅲ), 1O2) played an important role in the CuCM/PMS system for leachate remediation. The fluorescence spectrum and GC-MS analysis showed that the refractory organics with a high molecular weight in the leachate concentrate were mostly oxidized into small molecules, which also alleviated the membrane fouling. In addition, the slight decrease in COD (7.4%) and TOC (9.7%) after 6 cycles revealed the good catalytic stability and reusability of CuCM-3/PMS. This work provides a feasible strategy for leachate concentrate remediation via a nonradical oxidation process.

Preparation, performance and mechanism of metal oxide modified catalytic ceramic membranes for wastewater treatment.

Catalytic ceramic membranes (CMs) integrated with different metal oxides were designed and fabricated by an impregnation-sintering method. The characterization results indicated that the metal oxides (Co3O4, MnO2, Fe2O3 and CuO) were uniformly anchored around the Al2O3 particles of the membrane basal materials, which could provide a large number of active sites throughout the membrane for the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The performance of the CMs/PMS system was evaluated by filtrating a phenol solution under different operating conditions. All the four catalytic CMs showed desirable phenol removal efficiency and the performance was in order of CoCM, MnCM, FeCM and CuCM. Moreover, the low metal ion leaching and high catalytic activity even after the 6th run revealed the good stability and reusability of the catalytic CMs. Quenching experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements were conducted to discuss the mechanism of PMS activation in the CMs/PMS system. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) were supposed to be SO4˙- and 1O2 in the CoCM/PMS system, 1O2 and O2˙- in the MnCM/PMS system, SO4˙- and ·OH in the FeCM/PMS system, and SO4˙- in the CuCM/PMS system, respectively. The comparative study on the performance and mechanism of the four CMs provides a better understanding of the integrated PMS-CMs behaviors.

Virus-like particle vaccines for poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 with enhanced thermostability expressed in insect cells.

Poliovirus (PV) is a pathogen that causes poliomyelitis, which may lead to paralysis and fatality. Inactivated PV vaccines (IPVs) and live-attenuated oral PV vaccines (OPVs) are currently used to defend against PV worldwide. Vaccines must be developed in a PV-free environment given the biosafety issues associated with OPV and IPV production and to eradicate PV globally. In this study, PV1, PV2, and PV3 virus-like particles with enhanced thermostability (PV-sVLPs) were produced in large quantities by using a baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS). Mice immunized with PV-sVLPs generated antibodies with strong PV-neutralizing response. In addition, splenocytes collected from immunized mice expressed high levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, GM-CSF, IL-5, and IL-10 upon PV-sVLPs stimulation. These data suggest that PV-sVLPs can serve as vaccines against PV infection.

Large-Scale Synthesis of Metal-Ion-Doped Manganese Dioxide for Enhanced Electrochemical Performance.

One-dimensional (1D) MnO2 was widely applied in areas of enzyme biosensors, industrial sieves, and energy storage materials owing to its excellent thermal, optical, magnetic, and chemical features. However, its practical application into energy storage devices is often hindered by the bad electronic conductivity (from 10(-5) to 10(-6) S cm(-1)). As is widely known, doping with hetero elements is an efficient way to enhance the electronic conductivity of metal oxides. Herein, a novel and simple molten-salt method is developed to achieve a large-scale preparation of 1D MnO2 nanowires. Such an approach also realizes the easy tuning of electrical properties through doping with different transition metal ions. On the basis of first-principle calculation as well as four-probe measurement, we determined that the conductivity of the doped MnO2 nanowires can be promoted efficiently by utilizing such protocol. Meanwhile, a possible doping route is discussed in detail. As a result, a superior electrochemical performance can be observed in such metal ions (M(+))-doped nanowires. Such high-quality M(+)-doped MnO2 nanowires can satisfy a broad range of application needs beyond the electrochemical capacitors.