Preparation of carbonyl, hydroxyl, and amino-functionalized microporous carbonaceous nanospheres from syrup-based waste to remove sulfamethazine

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2022-04, Vol.29 (19), p.27688-27702
• Main Authors: Hu, Xiaohong, Huang, Yang, Pan, Zhong, Li, Shunxing, Li, Qiao, Lin, Weiwei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Amination; Antibiotics; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Carbonyl compounds; Carbonyls; Carboxylation; Diffusion models; Dipping; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Fabrication; Human wastes; Humans; Hydroxyl Radical; Hydroxylation; Infrared spectroscopy; Kinetics; Microporosity; Nanoparticles; Nanospheres; Nanospheres - chemistry; Particle diffusion; Photoelectron spectroscopy; Photoelectrons; Porosity; Pyrolysis; Reagents; Research Article; Scanning electron microscopy; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Spectrum analysis; Sulfadiazine; Sulfamethazine; Sulfonamides; Surface area; Surface chemistry; Syrup; Syrups; Waste Water - chemistry; Waste Water Technology; Wastewater treatment; Water Management; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollution Control; Water Purification; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-18375-5

Sulfadiazine (SDZ) was a persistent sulfonamide antibiotic with a potential risk to human health. The waste dipping syrup was considered useless and environmentally unfriendly solution. In this work, carbonyl-, hydroxyl-, and amino-functionalized microporous carbonaceous nanospheres were synthesized using waste dipping syrup with glucose, fructose, and nitrogen, which was used as precursor for hydrothermal and pyrolysis process. The products were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the point of zero charge (PZC), Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The carbonaceous nanospheres with large BET surface area (924.528 m 2 /g), micropores (2.127 nm), and high micro-porosity (89.54 %) allowed the rapid diffusion of SDZ (0.512nm×0.738 nm) into micropores of nanospheres. The majority SDZ (initial concentration = 20 mg/L) was removed (>96.8%) in the presence of 1.0 g/L nanoparticles after 40-min reaction at pH = 6.0. The adsorption capacity of SDZ onto nanospheres was 96.6 mg/g. The adsorption kinetic and equilibrium followed pseudo-first-order model and Langmuir isotherm, respectively. The intra-particle diffusion model indicated a three-step adsorption process. In addition, the regenerated nanospheres could be reused over four recycles. The optimal fabrication was realized at lower hydrothermal and pyrolysis temperature of 180 °C and 400 °C, respectively, which involved no additional chemical activating agent and had a high yield (70.8 %). Collectively, hydroxylation, carboxylation, amination, large specific surface area, and multi-microporosity may be responsible for improved adsorption performance of SDZ onto nanospheres. The findings provided a novel pathway for SDZ-loading wastewater treatment using waste syrup. Graphical abstract