Rodriguez-Otero Alba, Tisler Selina, Reinhardt Lisa M, Jørgensen Mathias B, Bouyssiere Brice, Christensen Jan H
Analytical Chemistry Group, Department of Plant and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, Frederiksberg 1871, Denmark; Universite de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, E2S UPPA CNRS IPREM UMR5254, Technopôle Hélioparc, 2 Avenue du Président Angot, Pau 64053, France.
Analytical Chemistry Group, Department of Plant and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, Frederiksberg 1871, Denmark.
Water Res. 2025 Jan 1;268(Pt B):122748. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.122748. Epub 2024 Nov 4.
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) often fail to fully remove organic micro-pollutants (OMPs), necessitating advanced treatment methods. This study examines the potential of an agricultural waste-derived adsorbent, rice husk (RH) - silica, for removing a complex mixture of 20 OMPs in MilliQ water and wastewater effluent. While RH-silica shows potential for OMP removal, its performance with multicomponent mixtures in real wastewater has yet to be investigated. Batch experiments demonstrated the efficacy of RH-silica in removing cationic, neutral, polar, and non-polar OMPs across various pH levels, with no adsorption of anionic OMPs. Column elution studies revealed that only positively charged compounds did not reach a breakthrough after 300 specific bed volumes (BVs), even when the filtration velocity was increased fivefold (3.8 m/h) and lower adsorbent-to-volume ratios (0.5 g/L) were employed. This indicates that electrostatic interactions via deprotonated silanol groups are the primary adsorption mechanism. RH-silica's ability to retain cationic pollutants regardless of their hydrophilicity degree highlights its potential as a novel adsorbent targeting positively charged persistent and mobile organic compounds (PMOCs). Moreover, the adsorption efficiency remained high in experiments with real wastewater effluent. Considering practical applications, a RH-silica column could be used to enhance removal of cationic polar compounds. This approach not only improves pollutant removal efficiency but also contributes to sustainability in WWTPs by using agricultural waste resources. Despite significant operational and end-of-life challenges for large-scale implementation, this study represents a crucial advancement in the investigation of RH-silica as an adsorbent.
污水处理厂（WWTPs）常常无法完全去除有机微污染物（OMPs），因此需要先进的处理方法。本研究考察了一种源自农业废弃物的吸附剂——稻壳（RH）-二氧化硅，用于去除超纯水和废水排放液中20种OMPs的复杂混合物的潜力。虽然RH-二氧化硅显示出去除OMPs的潜力，但其在实际废水中对多组分混合物的性能尚未得到研究。批次实验证明了RH-二氧化硅在不同pH值水平下去除阳离子、中性、极性和非极性OMPs的效果，而阴离子OMPs则没有被吸附。柱洗脱研究表明，即使过滤速度提高五倍（3.8 m/h）且采用较低的吸附剂与体积比（0.5 g/L），在300个特定床体积（BVs）后，只有带正电荷的化合物没有出现穿透。这表明通过去质子化的硅醇基团的静电相互作用是主要的吸附机制。RH-二氧化硅无论阳离子污染物的亲水性程度如何都能保留它们，这突出了其作为一种针对带正电荷的持久性和移动性有机化合物（PMOCs）的新型吸附剂的潜力。此外，在实际废水排放液的实验中，吸附效率仍然很高。考虑到实际应用，RH-二氧化硅柱可用于提高阳离子极性化合物的去除率。这种方法不仅提高了污染物去除效率，还通过利用农业废弃物资源为污水处理厂的可持续性做出了贡献。尽管大规模实施面临重大的运营和寿命末期挑战，但本研究代表了在将RH-二氧化硅作为吸附剂的研究方面的一项关键进展。
