A Zero-Valent Pd/Fe Loaded and Nanofibrillated Cellulose-Reinforced Carboxymethyl Cellulose Hydrogel for Dechlorination of 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol.

A full-cellulose derived hydrogel, composed of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC), was successfully manufactured and immobilized with Pd/Fe bimetallic nanoparticles for the dechlorination of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. The NFC-reinforced CMC hydrogels with or without loading of bimetallic nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, Scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray, and X-ray diffraction analyses. The effect of amounts of NFC on the loading capacity of Pd/Fe, mechanical properties and specific Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface areas of NFC-reinforced CMC hydrogel was also investigated. The experimental results showed that Pd/Fe bimetallic nanoparticles were dispersed and fixed in the hydrogel matrix with the nanosize spherical shape. The hydrogel would protect the Pd/Fe nanoparticles from oxidation, and thus providing long-term stability in comparison with only NFC-coated Pd/Fe nanoparticles. The hydrogel loaded with Pd/Fe nanoparticles, as a soft material catalytic system, was investigated to dechlorinate 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and was found to be very effective.

Kinetic research on dechlorinating dichlorobenzene in aqueous system by nano-scale nickel/iron loaded with CMC/NFC hydrogel.

In this study, we reported on the nano-scale nickel/iron particles loaded in carboxymethyl/nanofibrillated cellulose (CMC/NFC) hydrogel for the dechlorination of o-dichlorobenzene (DCB) in aqueous solution. The biodegradable hydrogel may provide an ideal supporting material for fastening the bimetallic nano-scale particles, which was examined and characterized by TEM, SEM-EDX, FT-IR and BET. The performance of the selected bimetallic particles was evaluated by conducting the dechlorination of DCB in the solution under different reaction conditions (e.g., pH, dosage of nickel/iron nanoparticles and temperature). The results showed that about 70% of DCB could be dechlorinated at 20 °C in 8 h, which indicated that the immobilized reactive material had a high reduction activity when Ni/Fe loading dosage in the hydrogel (18 wt%) was considered. Moreover, the reduction behavior agreed to the pseudo-first order reaction, in which the dechlorination rate was irrelative to the pH aqueous solution. A kinetic model for predicting the concentration of DCB during the reduction reaction was established based on the experimental data.

Determination of the Degree of Substitution of Cationic Guar Gum by Headspace-Based Gas Chromatography during Its Synthesis.

This study reports on a headspace-based gas chromatography (HS-GC) technique for determining the degree of substitution (DS) of cationic guar gum during the synthesis process. The method is based on the determination of 2,3-epoxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride in the process medium. After a modest pretreatment procedure, the sample was added to a headspace vial containing bicarbonate solution for measurement of evolved CO2 by HS-GC. The results showed that the method had a good precision (relative standard deviation of <3.60%) and accuracy for the 2,3-epoxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride measurement, with recoveries in the range of 96-102%, matching with the data obtained by a reference method, and were within 12% of the values obtained by the more arduous Kjeldahl method for the calculated DS of cationic guar gum. The HS-GC method requires only a small volume of sample and, thus, is suitable for determining the DS of cationic guar gum in laboratory-scale process-related applications.

A quint-wavelength UV spectroscopy for simultaneous determination of dichlorobenzene, chlorobenzene, and benzene in simulated water reduced by nanoscale zero-valent Fe/Ni bimetal.

A quint-wavelength UV spectroscopy for rapid determination of dichlorobenzene (DCB), chlorobenzene (CB) and benzene (B) was developed for the dechlorination process of DCB reduced by nanoscale zero-valent Fe/Ni bimetal. Based on the absorbance measurements at 260, 269, 277, 290 and 300nm, the equations for calculating the concentration of DCB and CB and B were established, in which the spectral interference from the nanoparticles could be effectively minimized. The results show that the present method has a good measurement precision (the relative standard deviations are within 2.0%) and accuracy (the recoveries are between 89 and 111%) in the DCB, CB and B's quantification. The present method is simple, rapid, and such a methodology is very suitable to be used for evaluating the dechlorination performance of chlorinated aromatic compounds in the presence of bimetal nanoparticle.