Efficiently Removing Organic Contaminants from Water by Peroxydisulfate Activated by the Treated Mesoporous Sewage Sludge
摘要
Dewatered sludge from a groundwater treatment plant was repurposed to generate new materials for treating organic pollutants in water. The sludge was first calcinated at various temperatures (200, 300, 400, 500, 600, and 700 °C). The calcinated sludges were then impregnated with a MgSO4 solution at different weight ratios (material/MgSO4 = 1/0, 1/0.2, 1/0.5, 1/1, 1/1.5, and 1/2 wt./wt.). The optimal conditions for preparing material (sludge-200-(1/0.2)) with the highest removal efficiency of methylene blue (MB) dye using the sludge-200-(1/0.2)-activated peroxydisulfate (PDS) (referred to “the combination system”) were at 200 °C and 1/0.2. Characteristics results of sludge-200-(1/0.2) demonstrated that it was a mesoporous material (specific surface area = 175.8 m2/g, total pore volume = 0.249 cm3/g, and average pore width = 5.67 nm), contained a high Fe content (40.65%mass detected by XRF or 15.6%atomic by EDS), exhibited a dominant amorphous structure (based on XRD data), and possessed some surface functionalities (–OH, –CH2– and –CH3–, C=O/N–H, COO–/C–N, C–O, and M–O analyzed by FTIR spectrum). The optimal conditions for MB dye removal using the combination system were pH 2.0, [PDS] = 0.55 mM, and solid/liquid ratio = 1 g/L. The dye removal efficiencies of the combination system at the initial concentration of each dye (~500 mg/L) were 98.6% (for MB), 75.0% (Rhodamine B), and 55.8% (tartrazine). For real wastewater samples collected from three wastewater treatment plants, the combination system achieved colour and COD removal efficiencies of 98.3% and 94.2% (PP Plant), 70.7% and 60.6% (VSIP Plant), and 75.7% and 50.9% (PTT Plant), respectively. Overall, the sludge-200-(1/0.2) catalyst was effective in activating by PDS for the catalytic oxidation of organic contaminants from water and wastewater.
Graphic Abstract