Isolation of organophosphate pesticides from water using gold nanoparticles doped magnetic three-dimensional graphene oxide.

Pesticides are a large group of pristine organic contaminants, which are widely discharged into environmental water due to agricultural activities. Hence, extraction, determination, and removal of pesticides from water resources are necessary for human health. In this study, novel adsorbent was developed based on three-dimensional magnetic graphene coated with gold nanoparticles (3D-MG@AuNPs) for extraction of chlorpyrifos, dicrotophos, fenitrothion, and piperophos as four specific organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) from wastewater and tap water samples. The proposed nanocomposite was characterized; FTIR and EDX are performed for the expected functional groups and elemental analysis, SEM showed the unique and spherical AuNPs are well dispersed over graphene sheets. In this investigation, the important parameters that have effect on the extraction efficiency, including the desorbing solvent, desorbing solvent volume, vortex time, the extraction time, adsorbent dosage, pH of sample solutions, and salt effect were evaluated. In conclusion, the measured amounts of the chosen OPPs were determined using the gas chromatography microelectron capture (µECD-GC) method. Limits of quantification (S/N ratio of 10) and detection (S/N ratio of 3) were attained at concentrations of 0.26-0.43 µg.L-1 and 0.08-0.14 µg.L-1, respectively. According to the results of the investigations, the synthesized 3D-MG@AuNPs did not require any complicated sample preparation methods; therefore, it is a very good choice for solid magnetic phase extraction studies.

Nickel and iron-based metal-organic frameworks for removal of organic and inorganic model contaminants.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a promising class of porous nanomaterials in the field of environmental remediation. Ni-MOF and Fe-MOF were chosen for their advantages such as structural robustness and ease of synthesis route. The structure of prepared MOFs was characterized using FE-SEM, XRD, FTIR, and N2 adsorption-desorption. The efficiency of MOFs to remove organic model contaminants (anionic Alizarin Red S (ARS) and cationic malachite green (MG) and inorganic fluoride was studied. Fe-MOF and Ni-MOF adsorbed 67, 88, 6% and 32, 5, and 9% of fluoride, ARS, and MG, respectively. Further study on ARS adsorption by Fe-MOF showed that the removal efficiency was high in a wide range of pH from 3 to 9. Moreover, dye removal was directly increased by adsorbent mass (0.1-0.75 g/L) and decreased by ARS concentration (25-100 mg/L). The pseudo-first-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model with a qmax of 176.68 mg/g described the experimental data well. The separation factor, KL, was in the range of 0-1, which means the adsorption process was favorable. In conclusion, Fe-MOF showed remarkable adsorption of organic and inorganic model contaminants.

Microbial Volatile Organic Compound (VOC)-Driven Dissolution and Surface Modification of Phosphorus-Containing Soil Minerals for Plant Nutrition: An Indirect Route for VOC-Based Plant-Microbe Communications.

We investigated the ability of microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) emitted by Bacillus megaterium (a well-known MVOC producer) to modify the dissolution kinetics and surface of hydroxyapatite, a natural soil mineral. Facilitated phosphate release was induced by the airborne MVOCs in a time-dependent manner. Use of each standard chemical of the MVOCs then revealed that acetic and oxalic acids are crucial for the phenomenon. In addition, the ability of such MVOCs to engineer the apatite surfaces was evidenced by FT-IR spectra showing the COO- band variation with incubation time and the prolonged acceleration of phosphate release during the negligible acidification of the hydroxyapatite-containing solutions. The formation of calcium oxalate was revealed through SEM-EDS and XRD analyses, suggesting that MVOC oxalic acid interacts with calcium ions, leading to the precipitation of calcium oxalate, thus preventing the recrystallization of calcium phosphates. Gel- and soil-based plant cultivation tests employing Arabidopsis thaliana and solid calcium phosphates (i.e., nano- and microsized hydroxyapatites and calcium phosphate dibasic) demonstrated that these MVOC mechanisms facilitate plant growth by ensuring the prolonged supply of plant-available phosphate. The relationship between the growth enhancement and the particle size of the calcium phosphates also substantiated the MVOC sorption onto soil minerals related to plant growth. Given that most previous studies have assumed that MVOCs are a molecular lexicon directly detected by the dedicated sensing machinery of plants, our approach provides a new mechanistic view of the presence of abiotic mediators in the interaction between plants and microbes via MVOCs.

Application of ZnO-Nd Nano-Photocatalyst for the Reactive Red 198 Dye Decolorization in the Falling-Film Photocatalytic Reactor.

A large amount of Reactive red 198 (RR198) is released yearly into the environment. RR198 is toxic for human and aquatic creatures; therefore, it should be removed from wastewater before releasing into the environment. In this study, the nano ZnO-Nd -photo-catalyst for the first time was synthesized by the combustion method. First, the physical characteristics of the generated nano photocatalyst were evaluated using FESEM, XRD, Bandgap calculation, and FTIR analysis. Then, the ZnO-Nd nano-photocatalyst was suspended into the contaminated water with RR198 dye in a falling-film photocatalytic reactor. The effects of parameters such as the amount of H2O2, catalyst dose, pH, and initial concentration of dye were investigated during the experiments. Finally, the decolorization process with the falling-film photocatalytic reactor was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The physical characteristics showed that the average particle size of the synthesized ZnO-Nd was 40 nm. Doping ZnO with Nd reduced the photocatalyst energy bandgap by 14%. The results indicated that the optimum amount of catalyst dose and pH level was 0.1 g/L and 5, respectively. The simultaneous usage of H2O2 and ZnO-Nd with an H2O2/dye ratio of two increased dye removal performance by 90%. The results demonstrated that the developed equations can be applied to predict the performance of the falling-film photoreactor. This study showed that using the nano ZnO-Nd photocatalyst in a falling-film photocatalytic reactor under optimum operating conditions is an appropriate way to remove RR198 from water.

Nitrile-calixarene grafted magnetic graphene oxide for removal of arsenic from aqueous media: Isotherm, kinetic and thermodynamic studies.

A novel adsorbent was developed based on nitrile functionalized calix [4]arene grafted onto magnetic graphene oxide (N-Calix-MGO) for remediation of arsenic (III) ions from aqueous media. The nanocomposite was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The effective parameters on adsorption efficiency such as pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, initial concentration, and temperature were studied. The adsorption process was provided with a high removal efficiency up to (90%) at pH 6 which followed by IUPAC Type II pattern. The mathematical models of kinetics and isotherm validated the experimental process. The adsorption kinetic is followed pseudo-first-order model with R2 > 0.9. The adsorption equilibrium was well fitted on the Freundlich model (R2 ∼ 0.96) as compared Langmuir model (R2 ∼ 0.75). Hence, the Freundlich model suggested a multilayer sorption pattern with a physisorption mechanism for arsenic (III) uptake ono developed nanocomposite with a sorption capacity of 67 mg/g for arsenic. The Gibbs free energy (ΔG° < -20 kJ/mol) showed As(III) uptake ono N-Calix-MGO nanocomposite was the physical adsorption mechanism.