Intensive adsorption of tetracycline by cobalt oxide quantum dots-loaded mineral carbon

Ning Zhao; Qiyi Ma; Baifa Zhang; Yanfu Wei; Dong Liu; Mengyuan Li; Haoyu Li; Peng Yuan

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129373

Intensive adsorption of tetracycline by cobalt oxide quantum dots-loaded mineral carbon

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Oct:385:129373. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129373. Epub 2023 Jun 20.

Authors

Ning Zhao¹, Qiyi Ma¹, Baifa Zhang², Yanfu Wei³, Dong Liu¹, Mengyuan Li¹, Haoyu Li¹, Peng Yuan⁴

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny/Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Health Risk Control, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Contaminants Exposure and Health, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
³ National Observation and Research Station of Coastal Ecological Environments in Macao, Macao Environmental Research Institute, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao SAR 999078, China.
⁴ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: yuanpeng@gdut.edu.cn.

PMID: 37348566
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129373

Abstract

Spent bleaching earth (SBE), a waste by-product produced from the bleaching step of edible oil by montmorillonite clays (bleaching earth), causes serious public health and environmental problems. Accordingly, in this study, SBE was pyrolyzed to yield mineral carbon materials (SBE@C) and cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄) was loaded to improve the active site of those materials. Due to the carrier function of SBE@C, ultra-fine Co₃O₄ quantum dots (QDs) (2-6 nm) were homogeneously and robustly immobilized onto SBE@C. The obtained adsorbent exhibited high regeneration performance and an outstanding adsorption capacity (253.36 mg/g). It can be attributed to the surface complexation of cobalt with TC being the dominant process contributing to adsorption behavior. Further, Co₃O₄ QDs-SBE@C still maintained adequate sorption capacity at a broad range of pH values and in the presence of co-occurring ions. These results suggested the significant application potential of SBE and demonstrated the efficiency of using Co₃O₄ QDs-SBE@C for wastewater remediation.

Keywords: Adsorption; Cobalt oxide quantum dots; Spent bleaching earth; Tetracycline; Two-dimensional layered graphene-like carbon.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Carbon
Cobalt / chemistry
Minerals
Quantum Dots*
Tetracycline / chemistry
Waste Products
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / chemistry

Substances

cobalt tetraoxide
cobalt oxide
Carbon
Tetracycline
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Cobalt
Minerals
Waste Products
Water Pollutants, Chemical