Adsorption of Natural Organic Matter on Nano-Scale Zero-Valent Iron and Iron Oxide in Different Types of Surface Water

Studying the interactions between natural organic matter (NOM) and iron nanoparticles and iron oxide nanoparticles is essential for evaluating their performance in pollution remediation in the natural environment. Batch experiments were performed to investigate the adsorption behaviors of humic acid (HA) on iron and iron oxide nanoparticles, FTIR spectrometer, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Differential Centrifugal Sedimentation (DCS) were used as the analysis methods to find the changes of the iron and iron oxide nanoparticles before and after adsorption. The result shows the great adsorption ability of iron nanoparticles in the real water environment under the presence of anions and cations (e.g. Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl− and SO42−). Furthermore, N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) is used to test if the natural organic matter blocks all the binding sites of iron and iron oxide nanoparticles.