Photocatalytic investigation of textile dyes and E. coli bacteria from wastewater using Fe3O4@MnO2 heterojunction and investigation for hydrogen generation on NaBH4 hydrolysis.

Various impurities found nowadays in water can be detrimental to human health. This work focused on utilizing Fe3O4@MnO2 nanocomposite for cleaning organic contaminants from water, including rhodamine B (RhB) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). Analysis methods such as XRD, UV-vis, TEM, and FTIR were used to describe the nanocomposite. The results showed that the developed nanocomposite has good photocatalytic activity against pollutants in wastewater. The E. coli was destroyed after 90 min, and the RhB photodegradation rate was 75%. Moreover, the Fe3O4@MnO2 efficiency as a catalyst for producing hydrogen as an alternative energy source was tested. According to the calculations, the nanomaterial's turnover frequency, activation energy, enthalpy, and entropy are 1061.3 h-1, 28.93 kJ/mol, 26.38 kJ/mol, and -128.41 J/mol.K, respectively. Four reusability tests were completed, and the average reusability was 78%. The obtained data indicated the excellent potential for the developed Fe3O4@MnO2 nanomaterial to act as an adsorbent, thus representing an alternative to the classical depollution methods. This study showed that nanoparticles have a photocatalytic effect against pathogenic bacteria and RhB azo dye in polluted waters and offer an effective catalytic activity to produce hydrogen as an alternative energy source.

Pressure Leaching of Copper Slag Flotation Tailings in Oxygenated Sulfuric Acid Media.

In this study, a hydrometallurgical method for the recovery of copper, cobalt, and zinc from copper slag flotation tailings (SFT) was investigated. SFT contains large amounts of valuable metallic compounds, such as copper, cobalt, and zinc. A representative SFT sample containing 0.50% Cu, 0.148% Co, 3.93% Zn, and 39.50% Fe was used in experimental studies. High-pressure oxidative acid leaching of SFT was carried out to assess the effects of sulfuric acid concentration, oxygen partial pressure, reaction time, solid/liquid ratio, and temperature on the extraction of copper, cobalt, zinc, and iron. The dissolution of metals from the SFT sample increased with temperature and sulfuric acid concentration. However, high acid concentrations and high solid/liquid (S/L) ratios led to gel formation that caused filtration problems and inhibited metal dissolution. The optimum leaching conditions were found to be a leaching time of 90 min, an acid concentration of 250 kg/t, a temperature of 220 °C, an S/L ratio of 1:5, and an oxygen partial pressure of 0.7 MPa. Under these conditions, 93.1 ± 1.1% Cu, 96.3 ± 1.8% Co, and 92.3 ± 1.7% Zn were extracted. Iron dissolution was only 0.5 ± 0.1%. This hydrometallurgical process almost completely recovers valuable metals. In particular, cobalt, which is of great importance in the production of lithium-ion batteries, has been declared a critical metal by the United States, Canada, and the EU and was taken into solution with very high extraction efficiency (>95%). Additionally, oxygen partial pressure enhanced copper, cobalt, and zinc dissolution. When O2 was not introduced into the leaching system, the extraction efficiencies of Co, Cu, and Zn were approximately 24.5, 5.3, and 26.3%, respectively, after 2 h of leaching treatment.

Investigating triple superphosphate for lead removal from aqueous solutions.

The aim of this research is to investigate monocalcium phosphate monohydrate [Ca(H2PO4)2. H2O] also called triple superphosphate (TSP) for the removal of lead (Pb) from aqueous solutions. In this study, TSP was selected amongst various phosphate-based materials and fertilizers to act as the source of orthophosphate (PO43-) which is a powerful tool for metal fixation in soil and water. Thermodynamic equilibrium dissolution-precipitation relationships for the systems of Pb-H2O and Pb-PO43--H2O were drawn with the aid of Eh-pH stability diagrams to determine the predominance areas of different species. The lead phosphate compounds, identified through the stability area diagrams, were verified with the batch precipitation tests performed with standard solutions of lead and TSP at different conditions. It was observed that, depending upon solution conditions, TSP can precipitate 99.9% of the lead from the solution. Lead precipitates, analyzed by x-ray diffraction, showed the formation of lead phosphate compounds. The mechanism of TSP for the removal of lead from aqueous solutions is discussed.