Superfast flow reactor derived from the used cigarette filter for the degradation of pollutants in water

Abstract

Developing high value-added products from the waste materials is highly promising from the perspective of environmental protection and resource recovery. Herein, the used cigarette filter was recycled to prepare the flow reactor via a clean and facile strategy. A continuous-flow reduction method was adopted to produce the gold nanoparticles on deacetylated cigarette filter without any extra chemical modifier, reductant or surfactant. The obtained filter was applied as a continuous-flow reactor and showed a high permeability and ultrafast flow catalytic ability. The permeability coefficient of the reactor was about 1.4 × 10−10 m2. This work provided a clean method to covert the waste cigarette filter to useful flow reactor with the relatively simple steps, and the product had a potential for the fast reduction of 4-nitrophenol and dyes including methyl blue and methylene orange.