Ruthenium Catalysts for the Reduction of N-Nitrosamine Water Contaminants

Environ Sci Technol. 2018 Apr 3;52(7):4235-4243. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.7b05834. Epub 2018 Mar 13.

Abstract

N-Nitrosamines have raised extensive concern due to their high toxicity and detection in treated wastewater and drinking water. Catalytic reduction is a promising alternative technology to treat N-nitrosamines, but to advance this technology pathway, there is a need to develop more-efficient and cost-effective catalysts. We have previously discovered that commercial catalysts containing ruthenium (Ru) are unexpectedly active in reducing nitrate. This study evaluated supported Ru activity for catalyzing reduction of N-nitrosamines. Experiments with N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) show that contaminant is rapidly reduced on both commercial and in-house prepared Ru/Al2O3 catalysts, with the commercial material yielding an initial metal weight-normalized pseudo-first-order rate constant ( k0) of 1103 ± 133 L·gRu-1·h-1 and an initial turnover frequency (TOF0) of 58.0 ± 7.0 h-1. NDMA is reduced to dimethylamine (DMA) and ammonia end-products, and a small amount of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) was detected as a transient intermediate. Experiment with a mixture of five N-nitrosamines spiked into tap water (1 μg L-1 each) demonstrates that Ru catalysts are very effective in reducing a range of N-nitrosamine structures at environmentally relevant concentrations. Cost competitiveness and high catalytic activities with a range of contaminants provide a strong argument for developing Ru catalysts as part of the water purification and remediation toolbox.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Dimethylnitrosamine
  • Drinking Water*
  • Nitrosamines*
  • Ruthenium*
  • Water
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical*
  • Water Purification*

Substances

  • Drinking Water
  • Nitrosamines
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical
  • Water
  • Ruthenium
  • Dimethylnitrosamine