Abstract
In this study, nanocellulose (CNFs) was prepared by a mechanical shearing method, a simple and pollution-free process. Iron hydroxide was loaded on nanocellulose, a natural macromolecule derived from bamboo, to produce the second-generation iron-loaded nanocellulose for the removal of low-concentration phosphorus from wastewater. We found that the best modified ferric salt was ferric chloride. When the mass ratio of Fe(OH)3 and CNFs was 1.5 : 1, freeze-drying with liquid nitrogen yielded the best adsorption performance. The adsorption process of Fe(OH)3@CNFs followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics and belonged to chemical adsorption. Regeneration experiments showed that after 10 cycles of adsorption–regenerations of the adsorbent, the phosphorus adsorption efficiency was still stable at 80% of the initial material. The prepared adsorbent was characterized by the BET surface area measurement, scanning electron microscopy and FT-IR. The surface morphology, pore size and elements of materials before and after iron loading were analysed. Compared with other adsorbents, the phosphorus removal performances of the second-generation iron-loaded nanocellulose were superior. Compared with the first-generation material, the second-generation adsorbent is simpler and more environmentally friendly.
Highlights
Water pollution such as eutrophication is a worldwide problem [1]
The equilibrium adsorption capacity is calculated as shown in the following formula: qe
The amount of phosphorus adsorbed on this second-generation iron-loaded nanocellulose increased significantly compared with CNFs without the iron oxide modification
Summary
Water pollution such as eutrophication is a worldwide problem [1]. Controlling phosphorus levels is an important means to abate water eutrophication and improve the water environment. China’s ‘Discharge standard of pollutants for municipal wastewater treatment plant’ (GB18918-2002) stipulates that the firstclass A standard of total phosphorus emission concentration is 0.5 mg l−1. There is an urgent need to develop efficient and stable technologies to remove low-concentration phosphorus from wastewater. In the removal of phosphorus, many natural adsorbents are developed, including fly ash [7,8,9], zeolite [10,11,12,13,14] and diatomite [15,16]. Fly ash has a strong adsorption capacity but may pollute the environment [17]. Zeolites have a large specific surface area and strong electrostatic attraction. Diatomite has a large specific surface area and strong adsorption capacity for many pollutants. Due to the negative surface charges, diatomite is often used to adsorb positively charged heavy metal ions
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