Heterogeneous photo-Fenton decolorization of Orange II over Al-pillared Fe-smectite: response surface approach, degradation pathway, and toxicity evaluation.

A ferric smectite clay material was synthesized and further intercalated with Al2O3 pillars for the first time with the aim of evaluating its ability to be used as heterogeneous catalyst for the photo-Fenton decolorization of azo dye Orange II. UV irradiation was found to enhance the activity of the catalyst in the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process. Catalyst loading of 0.5g/L and hydrogen peroxide concentration of 13.5mM yielded a remarkable color removal, accompanied by excellent catalyst stability. The decolorization of Orange II followed the pseudo-first-order kinetics for initial dye concentrations from 20 to 160mg/L. The central composite design (CCD) based on the response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to evaluate the effects of several operating parameters, namely initial pH, catalyst loading and hydrogen peroxide concentration, on the decolorization efficiency. The RSM model was derived and the response surface plots were developed based on the results. Moreover, the main intermediate products were separated and identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and a possible degradation pathway was proposed accordingly. The acute toxicity experiments illustrated that the Daphniamagna immobilization rate continuously decreased during 150min reaction, indicating that the effluent was suitable for sequential biological treatment.

Ultrasound-assisted removal of tetracycline from aqueous solution by mesoporous alumina.

This work describes the removal of tetracycline (TC) from aqueous solution using a mesoporous alumina (meso-Al2O3) as adsorbent in the presence of ultrasonic irradiation. Adsorption of TC was investigated under various operating conditions, including pH, adsorbent dosage, ultrasound power, and initial TC concentration. The results showed that the rate of TC sorption was enhanced with the assistance of ultrasound. The TC removal increased with the increase in sorbent dosage, pH and ultrasound power, but decreased with the increase in initial TC concentration. The adsorption isotherm data were fitted properly with the Freundlich model under ultrasonic irradiation, and the adsorption process followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model.