Santucci Vincenzo, Fiore Silvia
Department of Engineering for Environment, Land, and Infrastructures (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
Materials (Basel). 2021 Dec 10;14(24):7587. doi: 10.3390/ma14247587.
This study explored the performances of waste polyurethane foam (PUF) derived from the shredding of end-of-life refrigerators as an adsorbent for wastewater treatment. The waste PUF underwent a basic pre-treatment (e.g., sieving and washing) prior the adsorption tests. Three target pollutants were considered: methylene blue, phenol, and mercury. Adsorption batch tests were performed putting in contact waste PUF with aqueous solutions of the three pollutants at a solid/liquid ratio equal to 25 g/L. A commercial activated carbon (AC) was considered for comparison. The contact time necessary to reach the adsorption equilibrium was in the range of 60-140 min for waste PUF, while AC needed about 30 min. The results of the adsorption tests showed a better fit of the Freundlich isotherm model (R = 0.93 for all pollutants) compared to the Langmuir model. The adsorption capacity of waste PUF was limited for methylene blue and mercury (K = 0.02), and much lower for phenol (K = 0.001). The removal efficiency achieved by waste PUF was lower (phenol 12% and methylene blue and mercury 37-38%) compared to AC (64-99%). The preliminary results obtained in this study can support the application of additional pre-treatments aimed to overcome the adsorption limits of the waste PUF, and it could be applied for "rough-cut" wastewater treatment.
本研究探讨了源自报废冰箱破碎的废聚氨酯泡沫（PUF）作为废水处理吸附剂的性能。在吸附试验之前，废PUF进行了基本预处理（如筛分和洗涤）。考虑了三种目标污染物：亚甲基蓝、苯酚和汞。进行吸附批次试验时，将废PUF与三种污染物的水溶液以固液比25 g/L接触。为作比较，采用了一种商业活性炭（AC）。废PUF达到吸附平衡所需的接触时间在60 - 140分钟范围内，而AC大约需要30分钟。吸附试验结果表明，与朗缪尔模型相比，弗伦德里希等温线模型（所有污染物的R = 0.93）拟合效果更好。废PUF对亚甲基蓝和汞的吸附容量有限（K = 0.02），对苯酚的吸附容量则低得多（K = 0.001）。与AC（64 - 99%）相比，废PUF实现的去除效率较低（苯酚为12%，亚甲基蓝和汞为37 - 38%）。本研究获得的初步结果可为旨在克服废PUF吸附限制的额外预处理应用提供支持，并且它可用于“粗处理”废水处理。
