Xiuxiu Ruan

Chemical characteristics and risk assessment of typical municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash in China.

The release of heavy metals in municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash has become a worrying issue while fly ash is utilized or landfilled. This work investigated the potential mobility of heavy metals in the fly ashes from 15 typical MSWI plants in Chinese mainland by the characterization of distribution, chemical speciation and leaching behavior of heavy metals. The results showed that total content of heavy metals decreased in the order Zn>Pb>Cu>Cr>Ni>Cd in samples. The toxicity characteristics leaching procedure (TCLP) of fly ash indicated that the amount of leached Cd in 67% of samples exceeded the regulated limit. Also, the excess amount of leached Zn and Pb was observed in 40% and 53% of samples, respectively. The chemical speciation analysis revealed that this excess of heavy metal leached in TCLP was contributed to the high content of acid soluble fraction (F1) and reducible fraction (F2) of heavy metal. Moreover, the great positive relevance between leaching behavior of heavy metals and F1 fraction was supported by principal component analysis (PCA). Risk assessment code (RAC) results suggested that Cd and Pb showed a very high risk class to the environment.

Effective adsorption of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) by hydrocalumite (CaAl-LDH-Cl) induced by self-dissolution and re-precipitation mechanism.

Hydrocalumite (CaAl-LDH-Cl) was synthesized through a rehydration method involving a freshly prepared tricalcium aluminate (C(3)A) with CaCl(2) solution. To understand the intercalation behavior of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) with CaAl-LDH-Cl, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer (ICP), and elemental analysis have been undertaken. The sorption isotherms with SDS reveal that the maximum sorption amount of SDS by CaAl-LDH-Cl could reach 3.67 mmol g(-1). The results revealed that CaAl-LDH-Cl holds a self-dissolution property, about 20-30% of which is dissolved. And the dissolved Ca(2+) and Al(3+) ions are combined with SDS to form CaAl-SDS or Ca-SDS precipitation. It has been highlighted that the composition of resulting products is strongly dependent upon the SDS concentration. With increasing SDS concentrations, the main resulting product changes from CaAl-SDS to Ca-SDS, and the value of interlayer spacing increased to 3.27 nm.

Abatement of aqueous anionic contaminants by thermo-responsive nanocomposites: (poly(N-isopropylacrylamide))-co-silylanized magnesium/aluminun layered double hydroxides.

A series of novel thermo-responsive composite sorbents, were prepared by free-radical co-polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm) and the silylanized Mg/Al layered double hydroxides (SiLDHs), named as PNIPAm-co-SiLDHs. For keeping the high affinity of Mg/Al layered double hydroxides towards anions, the layered structure of LDHs was assumed to be reserved in PNIPAm-co-SiLDHs by the silanization of the wet LDH plates as evidenced by the X-ray powder diffraction. The sorption capacity of PNIPAm-co-SiLDH (13.5 mg/g) for Orange-II from water was found to be seven times higher than that of PNIPAm (2.0mg/g), and the sorption capacities of arsenate onto PNIPAm-co-SiLDH are also greater than that onto PNIPAm, for both As(III) and As(V). These sorption results suggest that reserved LDH structure played a significant role in enhancing the sorption capacities. NO3(-) intercalated LDHs composite showed the stronger sorption capacity for Orange-II than that of CO3(2-). After sorption, the PNIPAm-co-SiLDH may be removed from water because of its gel-like nature, and may be easily regenerated contributing to the accelerated desorption of anionic contaminants from PNIPAm-co-SiLDHs by the unique phase-transfer feature through slightly heating (to 40 °C). These recyclable and regeneratable properties of thermo-responsive nanocomposites facilitate its potential application in the in-situ remediation of organic and inorganic anions from contaminated water.

Quick and efficient co-treatment of Zn2+/Ni2+ and CN− via the formation of Ni(CN)42− intercalated larger ZnAl-LDH crystals

The wide use of metal electroplating involving CN(-) necessitates the cost-effective treatment of both CN and metals (Zn, Cu, Ni etc.). In this research, we developed a novel strategy - Ni(2+)-assisted layered double hydroxide (LDH) precipitation - to simultaneously remove aqueous CN and Zn/Ni metals. The strategy is to convert CN(-)/Zn(CN)4(2-) to Ni(CN)4(2-) first, and then to quickly precipitate Ni(CN)4(2-)/CN(-) into LDH crystals. The conversion has been clearly evidenced by the change of CN characteristic FTIR bands of Zn-CN solution before and after adding Ni(NO3)2. The intercalation and efficient removal of CN have also been confirmed through the formation of LDH crystals XRD and SEM. In particular, a set of optimized experimental factors has been obtained by investigating their effects on CN removal efficiency in the simulated tests. Remarkably, over 95% CN were removed with high removal efficiencies of metals. Our results thus suggest that the current strategy is a quick, efficient and promising way to simultaneously treat both Ni and metals/CN rich electroplating wastewaters.

Electroplating sludge derived zinc-ferrite catalyst for the efficient photo-Fenton degradation of dye

A zinc-dominant ferrite catalyst for efficient degradation of organic dye was prepared by the calcination of electroplating sludge (ES). Characterizations indicated that zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) coexisted with Fe2O3 structure was the predominant phase in the calcined electroplating sludge (CES). CES displayed a high decolorization ratio (88.3%) of methylene blue (MB) in the presence of H2O2 combined with UV irradiation. The high efficiency could be ascribed to the photocatalytic process induced by ZnFe2O4 and the photo-Fenton dye degradation by ferrous content, and a small amount of Al and Mg in the sludge might also contribute to the catalysis. Moreover, the degradation capability of dye by CES was supported by the synthetic ZnFe2O4 with different Zn to Fe molar ratio (n(Zn): n(Fe)), as 84.81%-86.83% of dye was removed with n(Zn): n(Fe) ranged from 1:0.5 to 1:3. All synthetic ferrite samples in the simulation achieved adjacent equilibrium decolorization ratio, the flexible proportioning of divalent metal ions (M2+) to trivalent metal ions (M3+) applied in the synthesis indicated that the catalyst has a high availability. Therefore, an efficacious catalyst for the degradation of dye can potentially be derived from heavy metal-containing ES, its a novel approach for the reutilization of ES.

Advanced treatment of stabilized landfill leachate after biochemical process with hydrocalumite chloride (Ca/Al–Cl LDH)

This study investigated the effectiveness of Ca/Al-Cl LDH for the treatment of stabilized landfill leachate. Experiments were performed including different dosage of Ca/Al-Cl LDH and comparison with different reagents, such as CaCl2 and AlCl3. As a result, Ca/Al-Cl LDH efficiently removed organic matters in stabilized landfill leachate with the maximum removal (59.41% COD, 62.06% DOC and 70.56% UV254) at the dose of 30g/L. According to UV254 and EEM, it is remarkable that the formation of Ca/Al-LDH has a greater beneficial to organic removal than other reagents, especially for fulvic acid-like and humic acid-like compounds. Moreover, the removal of fulvic acid-like compounds was much better than humic acid-like compounds. The previous compounds had more carboxylic groups, thus had a better removal selectivity.

Decomposition of potent greenhouse gas sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) by kirschsteinite-dominant stainless steel slag

In this investigation, kirschsteinite-dominant stainless steel slag (SSS) has been found to decompose sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) with the activity higher than pure metal oxides, such as Fe2O3 and CaO. SSS is mainly made up of CaO·FeO·SiO2(CFS)/MgO·FeO·MnO(RO) phase conglomeration. The SF6 decomposition reaction with SSS at 500-700 °C generated solid MF2/MF3 and gaseous SiF4, SO2/SO3 as well as HF. When 10 wt % of SSS was replaced by Fe2O3 or CaO, the SF6 decomposition amount decreased from 21.0 to 15.2 or 15.0 mg/g at 600 °C. The advantage of SSS over Fe2O3 or CaO in the SF6 decomposition is related to its own special microstructure and composition. The dispersion of each oxide component in SSS reduces the sintering of freshly formed MF2/MF3, which is severe in the case of pure metal oxides and inhibits the continuous reaction of inner components. Moreover, SiO2 in SSS reacts with SF6 and evolves as gaseous SiF4, which leaves SSS with voids and consequently exposes inner oxides for further reactions. In addition, we have found that oxygen significantly inhibited the SF6 decomposition with SSS while H2O did not, which could be explained in terms of reaction pathways. This research thus demonstrates that waste material SSS could be potentially an effective removal reagent of greenhouse gas SF6.

Combined (1)H NMR and LSER study for the compound-specific interactions between organic contaminants and organobentonites.

The compound-specific mechanisms for the sorption of organic contaminants onto cetyltrimethylammonium-saturated bentonite (i.e., CTMA-Bentonite) in water were evaluated by (1)H NMR study and Linear Solvation Energy Relationship (LSER) approach. In (1)H NMR study, comparing with pure CTMAB, the up-field shifts of hydrogen peaks for CH2N(+) and CH3N(+) of CTMA(+) in CTMAB-aromatics (1-naphtylamine, aniline and phenol) mixtures are much greater than that in CTMAB-aliphatics (cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol) mixtures. Meanwhile, the peak position of hydrogen on amino- and hydroxyl-groups of aromatic compounds also changes greatly. (1)H NMR data demonstrated the strong molecular interaction between the positive ammonium group of CTMA(+) and the delocalized π-systems of aromatic solutes, whereas the interactions of CTMA(+) with aliphatic compounds having electron-donating groups (such as cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone) or aromatic ring substituted by electron-withdrawing groups (i.e., nitrobenzene) or nonpolar aromatic compounds with single phenyl ring (i.e., toluene) are weak. The derived LSER equation was obtained by a multiple regression of the solid-water sorption coefficients (Kd) of 16 probe solutes upon their solvation parameters, and demonstrates aromatics sorption onto CTMA-Bentonite is concurrently governed by the π-/n-electron pair donor-accepter interaction and the cavity/dispersion interaction, while the predominant mechanism for aliphatic compounds is the cavity/dispersion interaction, consisting with the (1)H NMR results.

Effective phosphate uptake and inhibition on M. aeruginosa by Friedel-based adsorbent

AbstractFriedel-based adsorbent was successfully prepared by the simple hydration reaction between cement and Cl-bearing salt solution. X-ray diffraction and FTIR spectroscopy were used to characterize the synthesized products and the adsorption behavior of products was examined by adsorption isotherm and kinetics. Furthermore, the inhibitive effect of Friedel-based adsorbents on Microcystis aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa) was also investigated. The results indicated that the adsorption isotherm could be fit well with Langmuir equations and the adsorption process was followed first-order kinetics. Both the experimental and modeled data indicated that Friedel-based adsorbent had a strong adsorption capacity of phosphate and an effective inhibition on M. aeruginosa. A maximum inhibition rate of 99.32% was achieved at the tenth day with an adsorbent dose of 4 g/L.

Lignin valorization for the production of renewable chemicals: State-of-the-art review and future prospects

Lignin is an abundant biomass resource in aromatic structure with a low price in market, which can serve as renewable precursors of value-added products. However, valorization rate of annually produced lignin is less than 2%, suggesting the need for technological advancement to capitalize lignin as a versatile feedstock. In recent years, efficient utilization of lignin has attracted wide attention. This paper summarizes the research advances in the utilization of lignin resources (mainly in the last three years), with a particular emphasis on two major approaches of lignin utilization: catalytic degradation into aromatics and thermochemical treatment for carbon material production. Hydrogenolysis, direct pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, and hydrothermal carbonization of lignin are discussed in detail. Based on this critical review, future research directions and development prospects are proposed for sustainable and cost-effective lignin valorization.