Carbon-Based Nanomaterials as Promising Material for Wastewater Treatment Processes

Abstract

In the latest literature search, the technology based on graphite oxide (GO) nanomaterials exhibits a great potential in many aspects of wastewater treatment involving adsorption, photocatalysis, disinfection and membrane process. In this study experimental data involving the carbon element in different forms such as active carbon (AC), graphite and graphene oxide (GO) applied as the active reagents in wastewater treatment are summarized and discussed. The first step was to characterize the aforementioned carbon materials and nanoparticles using various complementary techniques. These include optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Raman spectrophotometry and zeta potential measurements. The second issue was to design the relatively simple experiment enabling us to observe the physicochemical and biological effects of carbon nanoparticles in the presence of sewage water and/or active sludge. Obtained experimental data have been inspected using univariate and multivariate (principal component analysis, PCA) approaches confirming the complex interaction of GO nanoparticles with microorganisms that are present in activated sludge. This experiment enabled the collection of an initial data set to design different large scale investigations focusing on active nanoparticles affecting wastewater purification. PCA calculations clearly revealed that GO strongly affects the wastewater technological processes investigated. It is hoped that the described results will allow the design of smart environmental protection systems in the future.

Investigation of Hybrid Methods for Elimination of Brilliant Blue Dye from Water Phase Using Various Nanomaterials Combined with Activated Sludge and Duckweed

“…Results of multivariate calculations clearly suggested differences in bisphenols behavior in the presence of β-cyclodextrin or β-cyclodextrin/duckweed additives. In our latest work based on activated sludge jar test we confirmed the complex interaction of graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles with microorganisms that are present in activated sludge working with real wastewater [ 6 ]. Univariate measurements including pH, conductivity, TOC, IC, ammonia, and total nitrogen together with multivariate statistics calculations (principal component analysis) clearly revealed that GO may significantly affect the wastewater technological processes investigated.…”

“…In our previous works we demonstrated degradation of different endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), using protocols involving aerobic batch experiment with activated sludge obtained from the municipal sewage treatment plant [ 20 ] as well as duckweed biomass [ 21 ]. Moreover, we investigated behavior of activated sludge biomass in the presence of different type of carbon materials including graphene oxide nanoparticles [ 6 ]. Our experimental work using Ternes methodology [ 22 , 23 ] demonstrated relatively fast degradation rate of different steroids including estriol and testosterone, whilst equilin was fairly resistant for biodegradation under activated sludge aerobic conditions [ 20 ].…”

“…It should be highlighted that in spite of non-complicated detection, the elimination of these xenobiotics from wastewater and surface water ecosystems may be a difficult task due to their high polarity and resistant aromatic chemical structure. The most important issue is that these chemicals may exhibit long term toxicity and work as endocrine disrupting compounds or have mutagenic/carcinogenic activity for given organisms [ 5 , 6 ].…”

Sustainable Hydrothermal and Solvothermal Synthetic Approaches for Advanced Carbon Materials in Multidimensional Applications: A Review

“…Graphene is formed out of flat monolayer of carbon atoms which are densely packed in a honeycomb lattice in 2-dimensions. The carbon atoms are sp 2 hybridized; hence, they form strong intra layer bonding within the hexagonal carbon-rings, which makes graphene one of the strongest materials to be prepared [21]. This results in carbon materials finding a myriad of applications where developments have led to the discovery of a multitude of uses of carbon.…”

“…From Figure 4 it is evident that the nanocomposite exhibited excellent adsorption and photodegradation in the first cycle of wastewater treatment although, the performance was slightly reduced in subsequent cycles, the performance still showed promising results for future use, which suggests that magnetic ZnFe2O4-graphene nanocomposites have potential as an alternative to existing water purification processes. The understanding of low-dimension carbon material family (CNTs, fullerenes, graphenes, and QCDs) arrived, and indicated extensively remarkable properties for various applications [21].…”