Facile eco-friendly treatment of a dye wastewater mixture by in situ hybridization with growing calcium carbonate

Abstract

Inorganic/organic hybridization is often employed to synthesize functional materials but seldom considered in industrial wastewater treatment. Dye conjugate hybridization was proposed by immobilizing the anionic (e.g. congo red)–cationic (e.g.methylene blue) dye complex with growing calcium carbonate. The 3D-morphology and structure of the conjugate hybrid were characterized and the mechanism of formation elucidated. The shell–core structural hybrid was formed and then stacked into cubes. Applied to treatment of concentrated organic wastewaters, the simple single-step hybridization performed adsorption, flocculation and ionic complexation and exhibited a high level of removal of organic substances. This work provides a convenient, cost-effective and environment-friendly wastewater treatment by “using waste to treat waste”.