Facile and innovative application of surfactant-modified-zeolite from Austrian fly ash for glyphosate removal from water solution.

This study highlights a pioneering approach in the development of an efficient, affordable, and economically feasible adsorbent specifically tailored for the removal of glyphosate (Gly) from contaminated water. To accomplish this objective, a low-cost and pure NaA Zeolite (NaAZ) was synthesized with 93% crystallinity from Austrian fly ash (AFA) as a precursor for the first-time. Taguchi design was employed to optimize critical parameters such as the SiO2/Al2O3 ratio, alkalinity concentration, time, and temperature. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) and external cation exchange capacity (ECEC) are determined as critical factors for the modification process. Subsequently, the pure NaAZ was modified with hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (HDTMAC), a cationic surfactant. The utilization of surfactant-modified zeolite (SMZ) for Gly removal demonstrates its innovative application in this field, highlighting its enhanced adsorption capacity and optimized surface properties. The AFA, NaAZ, and SMZ were characterized using analytical techniques including XRD, XRF, FTIR-ATR, SEM, TGA, BET, CHNSO analyzer and ICP-OES. The adsorbent exhibited effective Gly removal through its pH-dependent charge properties (pH 2-10), with an optimized pH 6 facilitating a significant electrostatic interaction between the adsorbent and Gly. SMZ demonstrated remarkable adsorption capacity and removal efficacy, surpassing most reported adsorbents with values of 769.23 mg/g and 98.92% respectively. Our study demonstrates the significant advantage of the SMZ, with a low leaching concentration of only 6 ppm after 60 days, ensuring environmental safety, long-term stability, and public health considerations. The kinetics of the adsorption process was well described by the pseudo-second order and the Freundlich isotherm. Pore diffusion and H-bonding were postulated to be involved in physisorption, whereas electrophilic interactions led to chemisorption type of adsorption. Consequently, SMZ provides a practical significance, broad applicability and promising solution for Gly removal, facilitating sustainable water treatment.

Small Hematite Nanoparticles from the Kiruna-Type Ore; Evaluation of Declined Balance Limit of the Attrition Process and Their Catalytic Properties.

Hematite nanoparticles possess unique properties which have motivated substantial attention for numerous applications, including environmental remediation and wastewater treatment as a promising novel technology. The magnetite-silicate raw material of Kiruna-type ore has been introduced as an innovative precursor, decreasing the attrition balance limit for large-scale production of the ball-mill-derived hematite nanoparticles below the critical size. In this study, the hypothesis and the postulated role of quartz in the effective size reduction process were further investigated. The prepared samples were characterized in detail via X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and powder X-ray diffractometry (pXRD) to be compared with the previous results. Furthermore, the catalytic and photocatalytic activities of the obtained nanoparticles were evaluated in the oxidation reaction of a common persistent sulfo-organic contaminant. The results exposed outstanding reactivity, particularly in their photocatalytic performance, suggesting them as a strong oxidizing agent and active photocatalyst, which greatly promises many possible applications including water and environmental remediation.

Kiruna-Type Ore as a Novel Precursor for Large-Scale Production of Small Uniform Iron Oxide Nanoparticles.

The wide range of actual and potential applications of nanoparticles, highlight the necessity of a reliable production method for both quality and quantity of the products. Mechanical attrition is one of the first well-known techniques used to produce nanoparticles. However, these approaches have been restricted to produce uniform particles below the critical size of 15 nm because of the attrition balance limit. This paper introduces the magnetite-silicate raw material of a Kiruna-type ore deposit as a novel precursor, which enables the production of small iron oxide nanoparticles below the critical size by mechanical attrition. X-ray fluorescence (XRF), powder X-ray diffractometry (pXRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used for characterization of the precursor and obtained nanoparticles. The results indicate that the particles with a mean diameter of 10.7(2.7) nm consist of mainly less than one crystallite. The significant size reduction below the attrition balance limit can be attributed to the quartz content of the raw material, which operated as supporting micro-balls for transferring the energy during the milling process.

Production, characterization and adsorption studies of bamboo-based biochar/montmorillonite composite for nitrate removal.

Biochar is a promising immobilization tool for various contaminants in liquid wastes, aqueous solutions and soils. To further improve the sorption characteristics, a biochar/montmorillonite composite was produced and synthesized in an experimental pyrolysis reactor, using bamboo as biomass feedstock. The composite was characterized by physico-chemical and structural methods (FTIR, SEM, SEM/EDX, SSA, Low temperature nitrogen adsorption method). Based on these methods, the successful preparation of a bamboo based biochar/montmorillonite composite preparation has been demonstrated. The particles of montmorillonite were distributed across the biochar surface. The adsorption studies for removal nitrates from aqueous solutions were investigated by a batch method at laboratory temperatures. The experimental data were fitted by three adsorption models (Langmuir, Freundlich and DR; R2 > 0.93). The maximum adsorption capacity achieved by biochar at pH 4, was about 5 mg g-1 and by biochar/montmorillonite composite 9 mg g-1. The results suggest that the bamboo-based biochar/montmorillonite composite can be used effectively in the treatment of industrial effluents or waste water containing anionic pollutants such as nitrates.

Re-investigation of phase equilibria in the system Al-Cu and structural analysis of the high-temperature phase η1-Al1-δCu.

The phase equilibria and reaction temperatures in the system Al-Cu were re-investigated by a combination of optical microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) at ambient and elevated temperature, differential thermal analysis (DTA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A full description of the phase diagram is given. The phase equilibria and invariant reactions in the Cu-poor part of the phase diagram could be confirmed. The Cu-rich part shows some differences in phase equilibria and invariant reactions compared to the known phase diagram. A two phase field was found between the high temperature phase η1 and the low temperature phase η2 thus indicating a first order transition. In the ζ1/ζ2 region of the phase diagram recent findings on the thermal stability could be widely confirmed. Contrary to previous results, the two phase field between δ and γ1 is very narrow. The results of the current work indicate the absence of the high temperature ß0 phase as well as the absence of a two phase field between γ1 and γ0 suggesting a higher order transition between γ1 and γ0. The structure of γ0 (I-43m, Cu5Zn8-type) was confirmed by means of high-temperature XRD. Powder XRD was also used to determine the structure of the high temperature phase η1-Al1-δCu. The phase is orthorhombic (space group Cmmm) and the lattice parameters are a = 4.1450(1) Å, b = 12.3004(4) Å and c = 8.720(1) Å; atomic coordinates are given.