Assessing the Performance of Environmentally Friendly-Produced Zerovalent Iron Nanoparticles to Remove Pharmaceuticals from Water

Abstract

Nano zerovalent iron (nZVI), produced from green tea extracts, was incorporated in a cation exchange resin (R-nFe) to investigate its performance regarding the removal of four non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): ibuprofen (IBU), naproxen (NPX), ketoprofen (KTP) and diclofenac (DCF). The effect of contact time, NaCl pretreatment, pH, R-nFe dose, the role of the supporting material, the initial concentration of pollutants, and the combined effect of nZVI with oxidative reagents was assessed through a series of batch experiments. According to the results, the best removal efficiencies obtained for DCF and KTP were 86% and 73%, respectively, at 48 h of contact time with NaCl pretreated R-nFe at a dose of 15 g L−1 and a pH of 4. The maximum removal efficiency for NPX was 90% for a contact time of 60 min with PS 1 mM and a pH of 3, which was quite similar to the experiment with a greater contact time of 48 h without PS addition. The maximum IBU removal was 70%; this was reached at pH 3, with a contact time of 30 min and R-nFe 15 g L−1. To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study investigating the utilization of nZVI, produced from leaf extracts and incorporated into a cationic exchange resin, to remove NSAIDs from water.

Green synthesis of tungsten oxide (WO 3 ) nanosheets and investigation of their photocatalytic and cytotoxicity effects

“…In the last two decades, the topic of environmental protection has been sternly studied due to the increasing awareness of communities about the irreparable dangers of environmental pollution that is caused by the discharge of effluents and the entry of pollutants into nature [1, 2]. Sewage effluents from the textile industry, including azo dyes and phenyl materials [3–5], contain toxic organic chemicals that show resistance to the degradation effect of biological treatment methods [6, 7].…”

Assessing the performance of an integrated column system containing zero valent iron nanoparticles and sodium persulfate solution for the removal of emerging contaminants from different wastewater matrices – Identification of transformation products

“…The nanocomposite material, namely R-nFe, was synthesized following an environmental friendly method developed by Toli et al, 2018. This involved embedding nano zero valent iron particles into the porous structure of a strongly acidic cation exchange resin using trivalent iron that is reduced to the elemental state by polyphenols found in green tea extract. Further details about the method can be found in Toli et al, 2018 and a pretreatment step was performed prior to each experiment using a 1 M NaCl solution (100 g R-nFe/ 1 L NaCl), as suggested by Panagou et al, 2021.…”