Performance of zero-valent iron immobilized on activated carbon cloth for the removal of phenol from wastewater

Abstract

Abstract Background Discharge of large amounts of untreated industrial effluent into water bodies pose significant environmental challenges worldwide. This is due to the limitations of traditional wastewater treatment methods in the treatment of recalcitrant organic pollutants. Fenton processes involves the generation of hydroxyl radicals that are well suited to degrade organics in effluent water. This study focuses on reducing slag generation during Fenton processes and enhancing the reuse of nano-zero-valent iron (NZVI) through the immobilization of NZVI on activated carbon cloth (ACC) through a chitosan (CH) linker with phenol as a model pollutant. Results Microstructural and spectroscopic techniques were employed to study the materials prepared and 37.5 wt% iron loading was achieved. Phenol degradation of 96.3% at 40 °C at pH of 3.0 with 50 mM H2O2 was achieved using ACC-CH-NZVI. Adsorption and degradation studies carried out using ACC-CH-NZVI catalyst revealed that phenol adsorption onto ACC-CH-NZVI fits the Langmuir isotherm model, following the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and first-order reaction kinetics. Thermodynamic studies indicate the non-spontaneous, endothermic and irreversible nature of the removal process. Comparing ACC-CH-NZVI with ACC and ACC-CH, phenol removal using ACC drops from 87.8 to 39%, while using ACC-CH, the removal efficiency drops from 73 to 20.9% and using ACC-CH-NZVI, phenol removal drops from 96.3 to about 70% and total organic carbon removal drops from 79 to about 60% with minimal iron leaching, highlighting the superior performance of ACC-CH-ZVI and the role of NZVI in enhancing phenol removal. Conclusions The catalyst demonstrated good stability for phenol degradation to about 70% phenol removal from simulated wastewater and 60% TOC removal from industrial wastewater after five treatment cycles with minimal Fe leaching. Graphical abstract