Selective and efficient removal of emerging contaminants by sponge-like manganese ferrite synthesized using a solvent-free method: Crucial role of the three-dimensional porous structure

Jianxing Liang; Rongcan Chen; Jia-Nan Gu; Jingdong Li; Feng Shi; Yixin Xue; Bingji Huang; Mingming Guo; Jinping Jia; Kan Li; Tonghua Sun

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2023.119685

Selective and efficient removal of emerging contaminants by sponge-like manganese ferrite synthesized using a solvent-free method: Crucial role of the three-dimensional porous structure

Water Res. 2023 Apr 1:232:119685. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.119685. Epub 2023 Feb 3.

Authors

Jianxing Liang¹, Rongcan Chen¹, Jia-Nan Gu¹, Jingdong Li¹, Feng Shi¹, Yixin Xue¹, Bingji Huang², Mingming Guo³, Jinping Jia¹, Kan Li⁴, Tonghua Sun⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
² Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Road 3663, Shanghai 200062, PR China.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, PR China; Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recovery, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
⁴ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, PR China. Electronic address: likan@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁵ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, PR China; Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recovery, Shanghai 200240, PR China. Electronic address: sunth@sjtu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36739661
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.119685

Abstract

Ubiquitous macromolecular natural organic matter (NOM) in wastewater seriously influences the removal of emerging small-molecule contaminants via heterogeneous advanced oxidation processes because this material covers active sites and quenches reactive oxygen species. Here, sponge-like magnetic manganese ferrite (MnFe₂O₄-S) with a three-dimensional hierarchical porous structure was prepared via a facile solvent-free molten method. Compared with the particle-like structure of MnFe₂O₄-P, the sponge-like structure of MnFe₂O₄-S presents an enlarged specific surface area (112.14 m²·g^-1 vs. 58.73 m²·g^-1) and a smaller macropore diameter (68.2-77.2 nm vs. 946.5 nm). Enlarging the specific surface area increases the exposure of active sites, and adjusting the pore size helps sieve NOM and emerging contaminants. These changes are expected to effectively improve the degradation activity and overcome interference. To confirm the superiority of the sponge-like structure, MnFe₂O₄-S was used to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the degradation of multiple emerging contaminants, and its ability to degrade bisphenol A with and without humic acid (HA) was compared with that of MnFe₂O₄-P. The degradation activity of MnFe₂O₄-S was 1.6 times greater than that of MnFe₂O₄-P. Moreover, 20 mg·L^-1 HA inhibited the degradation activity of MnFe₂O₄-S by only 7.1%, which was much lower than that obtained for MnFe₂O₄-P (53.4%). In addition, the excellent performance was maintained in multiple water matrices. Notably, under lake water matrices, the degradation activity of MnFe₂O₄-P was inhibited by 35.6% while that of MnFe₂O₄-S was hardly inhibited. More importantly, the MnFe₂O₄-S/PMS system was also applicable to the treatment of actual wastewater and 73.0% and 90.1% of total organic carbon and chemical oxygen demand was removed from bio-treated coking wastewater containing non-biodegradable contaminants and NOM. This study provides an alternative route for the green production of high-activity porous spinel ferrites with environmental anti-interference properties.

Keywords: Anti-interference; Emerging contaminants; Manganese ferrite; Peroxymonosulfate activation; Three-dimensional structure.

MeSH terms

Porosity
Solvents
Wastewater*
Water*

Substances

manganese ferrite
Wastewater
Solvents
peroxymonosulfate
Water