Dlamini Nkosinathi Goodman, Basson Albertus Kotze, Pullabhotla Rajasekhar Vsr
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Zululand, Private Bag X1001, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa.
Department of Chemistry, University of Zululand, Private Bag X1001, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa.
Polymers (Basel). 2020 Jul 21;12(7):1618. doi: 10.3390/polym12071618.
Wastewater remains a global challenge. Various methods have been used in wastewater treatment, including flocculation. The aim of this study was to synthesize iron nanoparticles (FeNPs) using a polymeric bioflocculant and to evaluate its efficacy in the removal of pollutants in wastewater. A comparison between the efficiencies of the bioflocculant and iron nanoparticles was investigated. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDX) and Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy were used to characterize the material. SEM-EDX analysis revealed the presence of elements such as O and C that were abundant in both samples, while FT-IR studies showed the presence of functional groups such as hydroxyl (-OH) and amine (-NH). Fe nanoparticles showed the best flocculation activity (FA) at 0.4 mg/mL dosage as opposed to that of the bioflocculant, which displayed the highest flocculation activity at 0.8 mg/mL, and both samples were found to be cation-dependent. When evaluated for heat stability and pH stability, FeNPs were found thermostable with 86% FA at 100 °C, while an alkaline pH of 11 favored FA with 93%. The bioflocculant flocculated poorly at high temperature and was found effective mostly at a pH of 7 with over 90% FA. FeNPs effectively removed BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) in all two wastewater samples from coal mine water and Mzingazi River water. Cytotoxicity results showed both FeNPs and the bioflocculant as nontoxic at concentrations up to 50 µL.
废水处理仍然是一个全球性挑战。废水处理中使用了各种方法，包括絮凝法。本研究的目的是使用一种聚合生物絮凝剂合成铁纳米颗粒（FeNPs），并评估其在去除废水中污染物方面的功效。研究了生物絮凝剂和铁纳米颗粒效率之间的比较。使用配备能量色散X射线分析仪（EDX）的扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和傅里叶变换红外（FT-IR）光谱对材料进行表征。SEM-EDX分析表明，两个样品中都存在大量的O和C等元素，而FT-IR研究表明存在羟基（-OH）和胺基（-NH）等官能团。与生物絮凝剂相比，铁纳米颗粒在0.4 mg/mL剂量下表现出最佳絮凝活性（FA），生物絮凝剂在0.8 mg/mL时表现出最高絮凝活性，并且发现两个样品都依赖阳离子。在评估热稳定性和pH稳定性时，发现FeNPs在100°C下具有热稳定性，FA为86%，而碱性pH值为11时FA为93%，有利于FA。生物絮凝剂在高温下絮凝效果不佳，发现主要在pH值为7时有效，FA超过90%。FeNPs有效地去除了来自煤矿水和姆津加齐河水的所有两个废水样品中的生化需氧量（BOD）和化学需氧量（COD）。细胞毒性结果表明，在浓度高达50 µL时，FeNPs和生物絮凝剂均无毒。
