Preferential Destruction of Micropollutants in Water through a Self-Purification Process with Dissolved Organic Carbon Polar Complexation

Abstract

Removing micropollutants in real water is a scientific challenge due to primary dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and high energy consumption of current technologies. Herein, we develop a self-purification process for the preferential destruction of various micropollutants in municipal wastewater, raw drinking water, and ultrapure water with humic acid (HA) driven by the surface microelectronic field of Fe0-Fe y C z /Fe x -GZIF-8-rGO without any additional input. It was verified that a strongly polar complex consisting of an electron-rich HA/DOC area and an electron-poor micropollutant area was formed between HA/DOC and micropollutants, promoting more electrons of micropollutants in the adsorbed complex to delocalizing to electron-rich Fe species area and be trapped by O2, which resulted in their surface cleavage and hydrolyzation preferentially. The higher micropollutant degradation efficiency observed in real wastewaters was due to the greater complex polarity of DOC. Moreover, the electron transfer process ensured the stability of the surface microelectronic field and continuous water purification. Our findings provide a new insight into low-energy combined-micropollution water treatment.

Ozone Micronano-bubble-Enhanced Selective Degradation of Oxytetracycline from Production Wastewater: The Overlooked Singlet Oxygen Oxidation

“…As shown in Figure S14, the concentrations of NH 4 + -N, NO 3 – -N, and SO 4 2– in the raw OTC production wastewater do not decrease in the ozone MNB system, showing that they cannot be transformed by ozone MNBs and have no effect on the degradation of OTC. There is also high concentration of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the raw OTC production wastewater, which contains a large number of electron-rich functional groups and can react with 1 O 2 and ozone. , Therefore, HA was selected as the representative DOM , to study the effects of HA on OTC degradation. As shown in Figure S15, as the HA concentration increases from 2000 mg COD L –1 to 5000 mg COD L –1 , the degradation efficiency of OTC is inhibited to a certain extent from 98.0% to 89.4% within 1 h.…”

“…There is also high concentration of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the raw OTC production wastewater, which contains a large number of electron-rich functional groups and can react with 1 O 2 and ozone. 66,67 Therefore, HA was selected as the representative DOM 68,69 to study the effects of HA on OTC degradation. As shown in Figure S15, as the HA concentration increases from 2000 mg COD L −1 to 5000 mg COD L −1 , the degradation efficiency of OTC is inhibited to a certain extent from 98.0% to 89.4% within 1 h.…”

Overlooked interaction between redox-mediator and bisphenol-A in permanganate oxidation

“…proposed that the hydrogen bond of the DOM-BPA complex is preferred over their aromatic interactions based on density-functional theory (DFT) calculation [ 23 ]. In 2022, Hu's group demonstrated that π–π interaction of the aromatic structure of humic acids (HA, a primary component of DOM) with the aromatic structure of BPA resulted in forming a polar complex [ 25 ]. This π–π interaction resulted in more electrons transferring to the carbonyl group in the benzoquinone of HA, producing electron-rich phenolic –OH groups in this complex.…”

“…This π–π interaction resulted in more electrons transferring to the carbonyl group in the benzoquinone of HA, producing electron-rich phenolic –OH groups in this complex. An electron-poor area on BPA's aromatic rings facilitates its preferential removal [ 25 ]. Similar to DOM (or HA), many RMs possess aromatic structures that might interact with BPA via π–π interaction to form the complex.…”

Understanding the Nanoscale Affinity between Dissolved Organic Matter and Noncrystalline Mineral with the Implication for Water Treatment

“…Natural clay particles have hydrophilic properties, a high capacity for adsorption, and a specific surface area and are harmless to humans. , In soil environments, the deposition process of DOM is mainly adsorption on the surface of soil minerals, which have many physical and chemical reaction sites for organic groups, especially clay-sized particles. – Spatially complex and active environs within the soil minerals’ porous structure support the high adsorption of DOM. , Based on these, it may be feasible to explore a soil-inspired material designed and synthesized using a bottom-up approach for DOM removal. In fact, adsorption to the surfaces of CaP and clay minerals and precipitation as secondary CaP minerals are predominant reactions for DOM in soil due to the surface complexation ligand exchange reactions .…”