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The ability of ultrasound-catalyst hybrid system in degradation of HA, and survey the effective parameters in degradation is the objectives of the present study. The characteristics of the synthesised catalyst was investigated by SEM, XRD and UV-DRS. The performance of the system in pollutant removal was investigated using the OFAT (One Factor at a Time Method) method. The kinetics of the process, mechanism and the reusability of the catalyst were determined in optimised conditions. The results indicated that pH = 3, catalyst dosage = 400 mg/l, HA concentration = 5 mg/l have best efficiency (74%). Superoxide and hydroxyl radicals were considered as the main cause of HA degradation. Catalyst stability was investigated in 5 replicates and verified. The reduction in TOC obtained 45%. The overall results show that the ultrasound Fe–doped TiO2 hybrid system has partial promising performance in degradation of HA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to use tin oxide (SnO2) nanoparticle along with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and to evaluate their potential in removing direct red 81 (DR 81) dye from aqueous solution.This study was performed on a laboratory scale in a batch mode. To evaluate the structural properties of SnO2 nanoparticles, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and electron microscopy (SEM) images were used.According to BrunauerEmmettTeller (BET) analysis, the particle size is 10 nm. Laboratory results showed that the DR 81 removal efficiency by SnO2/H2O2 hybrid process reached 97.73% under the conditions including H2O2 concentration of 0.1 mmol/L, SnO2 concentration of 0.12 g, initial dye concentration of 25 mg/L, and pH of 3 after 60 min. DR 81 dye removal efficiency has a direct relationship with an increase in reaction time and SnO2 concentration while there is an inverse relationship between removal efficiency with the increase in pH, hydrogen peroxide concentration, and initial dye concentration.Considering the obtained results, the hydrogen peroxide activated by the SnO2 catalyst has a good ability for removal ofDR 81 dye, and this process can be used to remove DR 81 dye and other anionic dyes from wastewaters containing these pollutants. According to the results of the reaction rate, it can be concluded that the process follows the pseudo-second-order kinetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dye is one of the most important environmental pollutants which threats human and environmental health. Due to the solubility and high stability of dye in water, incremental attention has been paid to their destruction and removal from industrial effluents. In this study, the efficacy of ZnO nanoparticles coated on natural zeolite (Zeo) as photocatalyst was evaluated to destroy the safranin dye in water solution under UV light. In order to determine the optimal conditions, the effect of dye concentration and solution pH were investigated. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy images show that ZnO is well situated on the Zeo surface and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis confirmed the presence of Fe-ZSM5 Zeo and ZnO anatase phase in the synthesized photocatalyst. Optimal values of pH and the dye concentration for dye removal by synthesized UV/ZnO-Zeo photocatalyst were 9 and 100 mg/L, respectively. The maximum safranin dye removal (100%) in optimal conditions under UV light was obtained after 105 min. Also, the maximum adsorption capacity ZnO-Zeo catalyst for safranin was 26.35 mg/g. The removal efficiency reduced from 93% at run first to 32.15% at run fifth. In general, the results showed that the UV/ZnO-Zeo process can be used as an effective and efficient method in removing the safranin from aqueous environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Pseudomonas putida biomass was used to remove ceftriaxone from aqueous solutions. Biosorption was studied by living bacteria to achieve maximum biosorption. In order to investigate the shape, the biomass structure was analysed by SEM and FT-IR analyses. The effect of important parameters such as pH, contact time, adsorbent amount, and initial concentration of ceftriaxone solution, temperature, and the effect of ionic intensity on biosorption were studied. This study is an experimental study 250 ml Erlenmeyer was used as a batch reactor for the experiment. With increasing initial concentration, the removal efficiency increased. The best results were obtained at optimum pH = 7, adsorbent dose of 0.1 g, and initial ceftriaxone concentration of 50 mg/l after contact time of 120 minutes at the temperature of37 ∘ C and more than 50% of ceftriaxone was removed. Various isotherms including Langmuir and Freundlich were used to analyse equilibrium data at 37°C. The maximum adsorption capacity of this adsorbent was 109.5 mg/g. The results showed that the Freundlich isotherm is more consistent with the experimental data. Data fitting in the Freundlich adsorption isotherm model indicates non-uniformity of the absorbent surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These dyes have the potential for mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, and unwanted color on the one hand, and on the other hand, cause the production of toxic by-products in aqueous media. The aim of the present work is to synthesize scallop shell/iron oxide(II) nanocomposite and evaluate its efficiency in removing Direct red 81 (DR81) dye from aqueous solutions. Iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared by co-precipitation method and then the scallop was coated with iron oxide. The properties of synthesized nanocomposite were identified using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Effect of dye concentration (20–120 mg/L), contact time (0–240 min), adsorbent dosage (0.5–2.5 g), pH (3–11), and temperature (25°C–55°C) was investigated on decolorization efficiency of the process. Under optimal conditions (an initial DR81 concentration of 25 mg/L, pH of 3, adsorbent dose of 0.5 g, and contact time of 90), more than 98% of the dye was removed. The results showed that the efficiency decreases with increasing concentration. Moreover, by increasing the contact time and adsorbent dosage, dye adsorption percentage was enhanced. The maximum adsorption coefficient was 46.4 mg/g. In addition, Freundlich and Langmuir models were used to analyze the experimental isotherm data. The kinetic data of the adsorption process were in good agreement with the pseudo-secondorder kinetic model (0.995). The experimental data of the adsorption process followed the Langmuir model (R² = 0.91). The results show that Fe2 O3 nanoparticles coated with scallop shell as an environmentally friendly adsorbent can be effective in the adsorption of DR81. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disinfection is one of the most important stages of water and wastewater treatment. Today, the use of photocatalytic processes by sunlight as a sustainable way of water disinfection has been noted. The purpose of this study was to remove coliform and fecal coliform from the effluent of a hospital sewage treatment plant using the solar/N-doped titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) process. In order to conduct the experiments, the raw samples (effluent of secondary sedimentation) were taken from the Ali Ibn Abi Talib hospital wastewater treatment plant in Zahedan City, Iran. N-doped TiO2 nanoparticles and the samples were poured into the reactor and then exposed to direct sunlight in summer. The results indicated that the photocatalytic process efficiency was enhanced by increasing reaction time and nanoparticles dosage. Furthermore, it was found that N-doped TiO2 nanoparticles and sunlight had a synergistic effect on the deactivation of coliform and fecal coliform. The number of coliforms and fecal coliforms bacteria cells decreased from 5 × 105 to 7 × 10³ MPN/100 mL and 4 × 10³ to 2 × 102 MPN/100 mL in the solar/N-doped TiO2 process after 150 min, respectively. It has been generally concluded that the solar/N-doped TiO2 process can effectively deactivate a wide range of real effluent microorganisms on a laboratory scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amount of fluoride in drinking water sources is very important for public health. This study was conducted to evaluate the fluoride concentration in drinking water and compare the results with national and international standards, health risk assessment in non-cancerous diseases in East Azerbaijan province. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 20 large cities of East Azerbaijan province (West North of Iran) in warm (spring and summer) and cold (autumn and winter) seasons in 2017–2018.The results showed that the mean fluoride concentration in drinking water during cold and warm seasons was variable in the range of 0.19–0.65 and 0.18–0.62 mg/L, respectively. The Fluoride concentration in 80% of samples was lower than the standards. Also, the fluoride concentration in drinking water of studied cities was lower than calculated optimum concentration by Galagan and Vermillion equation. The estimated daily intake of fluoride (EDI) for infants, children, teenagers, and adults were 3.06, 2.15, 12 and 12.5 µg/kg/day, respectively. The hazard quotient (HQ) values for four age groups (infants, children, teenagers, and adults) for both seasons were lower than 1.Fluoridation and adjusting its concentrations in drinking water could be useful to compensate for its deficiency and prevent tooth decay. Based on the results, the non-carcinogenic risks of fluoride for the four exposed populations were below the safe limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TiO2 and Fe-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesised by sol-gel method. To determine the properties of nanoparticles, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were used. The results of the analysis showed that the synthesised nanoparticles are almost uniform and agglomerated as well as the Fe-TiO2 band gap has decreased from 3.1 to 2.84 and the absorption spectrum has changed towards the visible region. The final concentration of 2,6-dichlorophenol and degradation products were measured with gas chromatography-flame ionisation detector and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The maximum efficiency and reaction rate constant of 2,6-dichlorophenol were determined at pH 4 and k0 = 2.11 × 10−2, initial concentration of 2,6-dichlorophenol 20 mg L−1 and k0 = 8.01*10−2, and nanoparticles dosage of 500 mgL−1 and k0 = 5.07*10−2 at 90 min time. The degradation reaction followed the first-order kinetic model. The efficiency of degradation and mineralisation of 2,6-dichlorophenol were in order of sonophotocatalytic > photocatalytic > sonocatalytic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, multi-walled carbon nanotubes-CoFe2 O4 magnetic (MWCNTs-CoFe2 O4 ) based-magnetic nanocomposite was used for removal of Remazol Brilliant Blue Reactive (RBBR) dye, which is one of the most widely used organic dyes in the textile industry. The various characterization methods such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and vibrating sample magnetometer were used to confirm the formation of nanocomposite adsorbent and study its magnetic properties. The effective parameters on the removal process were time, adsorbent dose, dye concentration, pH and temperature. The optimal values of each of these parameters were determined as 40 min, 0.4 g, 20 mg/L, 3 and 298 K, respectively. The removal efficiency of RBBR dye in the presence of MWCNTs-CoFe2 O4 nanocomposite was 95% under optimal conditions. The maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) of MWCNTs-CoFe2 O4 for RBBR dye was 106.5 mg/g. The obtained experimental data were then analyzed with different isotherms such as Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin and the results showed a very good agreement of the data with the Langmuir isotherm (R² = 0.9998). In addition, two quasi-first-order and quasi-second-order kinetic models studied the kinetic of the adsorption process. It was observed that the process follows the quasi-second-order kinetic. Finally, a thermodynamic study was carried out at four temperatures of 298, 308, 318 and 328 K to calculate the Gibbs free energy (ΔG) changes, enthalpy changes (ΔH) as well as entropy changes (ΔS). The calculated values for the mentioned thermodynamic parameters were –8.93 kJ/mol, –32.38 kJ/mol and 0.078 kJ/mol K, respectively. The results showed that dye adsorption is an exothermic, spontaneous process and is associated to a reduction in system irregularities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the potential of natural coagulants such as plant extracts of Cichorium intybus (Ci), Cichorium pumilum (Cp), and Cichorium endivia (Ce) was investigated for removal of water turbidity. For conducting this study, distilled water and salts of KNO3, NaNO3, NaCl, and KCl were used to prepare the extracts, and parameters such as the turbidity removal percentage, the optimal concentration of plant extracts, the type of extracted extracts, pH, the amount of total dissolved solids, hardness, alkalinity, chloride, and sulfate were examined before and after the coagulation process. In this study, after determining the efficiency of different coagulants in removing tur)bidity from turbid water, the performance of the extracts was compared with the conventional chemical coagulant of aluminum sulfate (alum). The highest turbidity removal efficiency among different extracts was related to the use of Cichorium intybus extract; the high levels of protein and amine in this extract were proved by ninhydrin and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy tests. After determining the best plant extract (Cichorium intybus species extract), the hybrid coagulant was prepared using Cichorium intybus plant extract and alum (Ci/alum) in ratios of 1:1, 1:2, and 2:1, and its potential was also studied. The results showed that increasing the coagulant concentration to an optimal level is associated with an enhancement in turbidity removal efficiency. However, increasing the coagulant concentration to levels higher than the optimum value does not affect turbidity removal efficiency, and the removal efficiency remains almost constant. The maximum turbidity removal efficiencies using Ci, alum, and hybrid Ci/alum (1:1 ratio) were 92%, 90%, and 98%, respectively, which indicates the higher efficiency hybrid coagulant in the removal of turbidity from aqueous media. The results also showed that the use of 1 M NaCl solvent for the extraction of coagulants is more effective compared to other solvents used in this study [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since leachate is typically composed of numerous constituents, its management requires special attention. After the raw leachate of Saravan in Rasht (Guilan Province, Iran) was transferred to a laboratory and its specifications were determined, it was subjected to experiments by the bench-scale method. The analyses of pH and heavy metals were performed in the main and control anaerobic reactors at time zero, before precipitation, and two hours after precipitation. After the anaerobic process was over and the optimal retention time was identified in the anaerobic reactor, the removal of heavy metals was analyzed by the Fenton process and nanosilica absorbent in leachate treatment. In the primary anaerobic reactor, the highest and lowest removal rates were 59 and 39% for Ni and Cu, respectively. In the Fenton process with optimal H2O2/Fe+2 ratio, Cu and Hg showed the lowest and highest removal rates of 22.4 and 54.54%, respectively. At the optimal rate of nanosilica absorbent and the retention time of 15 min, As was removed maximally with an efficiency of 38% and Cu was removed minimally. The results revealed that the integration of the anaerobic process with the Fenton process and nanosilica absorbent was very effective in removing heavy metals from the aged landfill leachate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about environmental pollution from antibiotics such as amoxicillin have received increasing attention. These compounds should be eliminated from discharged effluents to avoid their possible negative effects on humans and animals, as well as on the environment. Recently, advanced oxidation techniques have been used to remove antibiotics. This work aims to study the removal of amoxicillin using a photocatalysis/ozonation process for treating pharmaceutical waste-water loaded with this type of refractory pollutants. The removal process was carried out using different pH values (3–11), catalyst dosages(250–750 mg/L), and reaction times (30–90 min), at an ozonation rate of 200 mg/h. Statistical analysis indicated that a quadratic model was suitable for modeling amoxicillin degradation by the photocatalytic process and that all studied parameters had statistically significant critical levels. Under optimum conditions (pH 11, a catalyst dose of 500 mg/L, and a reaction time of 90 min), the amoxicillin degradation efficiency of the photocatalytic process was 78.7%. The results of the photocatalysis/ozonation process indicated that after 90 min of ozone injection, an amoxicillin degradation efficiency of 98.7% was obtained. Therefore, it was concluded that the combined ozonation process and photocatalytic process could be used to remove amoxicillin effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the photocatalytic degradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) was evaluated under UV radiation by Fe-doped titanium dioxide (Fe-doped TiO2 ) nanoparticles (NPs) which were synthesized by a sol-gel method. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were applied to identify the synthesized nanoparticles. According to the SEM image, the synthesized nanoparticles had fine and irregular shapes with relatively smooth surfaces, as well as XRD spectrum showed that the crystalline size of Fe-doped TiO2 NPs was 10.42 nm, furthermore, according to the DRS analysis, the bandgap energy of Fe-doped TiO2 NPs was determined about 2.9 eV. The effects of operating parameters, including initial 2,4,6- TCP concentration, pH, contact time and Fe-doped TiO2 NPs dosage on 2,4,6-TCP degradation were studied and optimized based on the response surface methodology with Box–Behnken method. The analysis of 2,4,6-TCP degradation showed that under optimum conditions, the removal efficiency reached 95.9% which is consistent with the model prediction. The optimum degradation conditions were as follows: pH, 3.29; initial 2,4,6-TCP concentration, 50.5 mg L-1; Fe-doped TiO2 NPs dosage, 0.59 g L-1; and contact time, 55.7 min. The present results showed that Fe-doped TiO2 NPs have great potential for removing 2,4,6-TCP from aqueous solutions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesoporous silica such as MCM-41 was used as an adsorbent for the removal of cephalexin antibiotic from synthetic wastewater. In this study, MCM-41 adsorbent was synthesised and was characterised by FE-SEM, XRD, FTIR and isotherms of adsorption/desorption of N2. The effects of initial pH, adsorbent dose, initial adsorbate concentration, contact time and temperature on process efficiency were evaluated using Box-Behnken statistical experiment design (RSM). FTIR analysis revealed the Si-OH, H-O-H and Si-O-Si bonds are formed. According to BET surface area, MCM-41 had pores with a diameter of more than 2.0 nm and surface area of 1,097 m²-g-1 and also XRD spectra showed the mean crystallite size of MCM-41 was 75 nm. The statistical results show that pH, adsorbent dose, initial antibiotic concentration, temperature and quadratic pH were significant and presented with probability <0.05. The optimum removal condition based on analysis of variance and the quadratic model was the initial pH of adsorbate solution fixed at 3.00, adsorbent dose 800 mg L-1, the initial concentration of antibiotic at 50.0 mg L-1, a temperature of 40.0°C, and at the adsorption time of 30.0 min. Under these conditions, the percentage removal of cephalexin antibiotic was 90.3%. Therefore, according to the obtained results, the mesoporous silica can be used to adsorb cephalexin antibiotic in optimal conditions designed by response surface methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as traditional chelating agent and nitrilo triacetic acid (NTA) as biodegradable chelating agent were used to evaluate the efficiency of leaching in silty-clay-loam soil contaminated with Pb, Cd, and Zn. Three concentrations of NTA and EDTA, 0.1, 0.01, and 0.005 M, were used in column leaching and each was set up in triplicate. Results demonstrate that the highest efficiency of heavy metals extraction was obtained in treatments with a concentration of 0.1 M EDTA and NTA. The extraction efficiency in first, second, and third pore volumes of 0.1MEDTAwere 41.92, 70.35, and 81.63% of Pb, 19.26, 44.28, and 77.58% of Cd, and 41.24, 56.14, and 65.8% of Zn, respectively. Also the extraction yields in first, second, and third pore volumes of 0.1M NTAwere 6.44, 14.72, and 16.78% of Pb, 47.68, 59.4, and 66.85% of Cd, an 11.44, 15.45, and 18.84 8% of Zn, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that EDTA concentration and pore volume have significant (p < 0.05) effects on heavy metal leaching efficiency. At a washing solution pH of 4.5, the Pb, Cd, and Zn extraction efficiencies at the fifth pore volume were 87.25, 81.23, and 70.05% for the 0.1 M EDTA and 79.7, 59.8, and 60.12% for the 0.1 M NTA, respectively, when multiple heavy metals were used. The Pb, Cd, and Zn extraction efficiency for reuse of EDTA from leached solution were 99.12, 99.71, and 99.33%, respectively, for Na2S and 99.66, 99.74, and 98.59%, respectively, for Na2S=CaðOHÞ 2 treatment. The acidity of the environment has a significant impact on heavy metals removal for both chelating agents. The overall orders of metal extraction efficiency for EDTA and NTA that resulted from this study are Pb > Cd > Zn and Cd > Zn > Pb, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to obtain optimal adsorption conditions for enrofloxacin (ENR) as a fluoroquinolone antibiotic onto NaOH-modified rice husk using response surface methodology (RSM). On the basis of a four variable Box–Behnken design (BBD), RSM was used to determine the effect of adsorbent dose (0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 g L−1), pH (5, 7, and 9), ENR initial concentration (25, 75, and 125 mg L−1), and temperature (15, 30, and 45°C) on adsorption efficiency. By applying the quadratic regression analysis, among the main parameters, the removal efficiency was significantly affected by all the four variables. The results showed that the predicted values for ENR adsorption were close to the experimental values and were in good agreement. In addition, theR2value (R2 = 0.9705) indicates that the regression is able to give a good predict of response for the adsorption process in the studied range. From the BBD predictions, the optimal conditions for 92.25% ENR removal were found to be 0.69 g L−1of adsorbent dose, pH 5.11, and initial concentration of ENR 25.02 mg L−1, at temperature 36.43°C. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

At present, nanofiltration (NF) technologies find the ever greater use in the water industry, particularly, drinking water supplies. The concentrations of most anions in the groundwater sources are much higher than surface water and in some cases are higher than drinking water standards. In this regard, the aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of application of nanofilters in removing phosphate, fluoride, and nitrite from aqueous solutions. In this research, the effect of different factors including initial concentrations of nitrate, phosphate, and fluoride along with the flow rate were investigated. The results showed that with an increase in the initial concentrations of phosphate, fluoride, and nitrite, along with an increase in flow rate, the removal efficiencies decreased. The maximum removal efficiencies for phosphate, fluoride, and nitrite were 98, 82, and 87%, respectively. According to the findings, NF membrane could be recommended for removing nitrates, fluoride, and phosphate from aqueous solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background and purpose: Sonocatalytic process as an advanced oxidation process is considered for degradation of pollutants in aqueous solution. The aim of this study was to increase the removal of dye by doping of TiO2 with non-metal element such as nitrogen. Materials and methods: Un-doped and N-doped TiO2 nano-particles with different nitrogen contents were synthesized by a simple sol-gel method in laboratory. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and UV- visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS) were used for characterization of the synthesized nanoparticles. The sonocatalytic activity of synthesized nanoparticles was evaluated by investigating degradation of reactive blue 29 under ultrasonic radiation and the effects of nitrogen doping content, different initial pH of solution, and dye concentration. Results: The study showed that both un-doped and doped nano-particles were in nano-sized that tend to agglomerate. By using different nano-particles, the highest sonocatalytic activity was achieved by 0.6 N-doped TiO2 with 58 % after 90 min of ultrasonic irradiation. Effect of initial pH of aqueous solution showed that the sonocatalytic activity decreased by increase in initial pH. Conclusion: Sonocatalysis using N-doped TiO2 was found to be an effective method for degradation of textile dyes. The high sonocatalytic activity could be attributed to the band gap narrowing and anatase phase in TiO2 nanoparticles. Sonocatalytic degradation followed the Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model (R2 = 0.98) with a rate constant of 0.01 mg L-1 min-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]