Enhanced nitrate-nitrogen removal by modified attapulgite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron treating simulated groundwater

Dong, L; Lin, L; Li, Q; Huang, Z; Tang, X; Wu, M; Li, C; Cao, X; Scholz, M

Abstract

Attapulgite (or palygorskite) is a magnesium aluminium phyllosilicate. Modified attapulgite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (NZVI) was created by a liquid-phase reduction method and then applied for nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) removal (transformation) in simulated groundwater. Nanoscale zero-valent iron was sufficiently dispersed on the surface of thermally modified attapulgite. The NO3-N removal efficiency reached up to approximately 83.8% with an initial pH values of 7.0. The corresponding thermally modified attapulgite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (TATP-NZVI) and NO3-N concentrations were 2.0 g/L and 20 mg/L respectively. Moreover, 72.1% of the water column NO3-N was converted to ammonium-nitrogen (NH4-N) within 6 h. The influence of environmental boundary conditions including dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, light illumination and water temperature on NO3-N removal was also investigated with batch experiments. The results indicated that the DO concentration greatly impacted on NO3-N removal in the TATP-NZVI-contained solution, and the NO3-N removal efficiencies were 58.5% and 83.3% with the corresponding DO concentrations of 9.0 and 0.3 mg/L after 6 h of treatment, respectively. Compared to DO concentrations, no significant (p > 0.05) effect of light illumination on NO3-N removal and NH4-N generation was detected. The water temperature also has great importance concerning NO3-N reduction, and the removal efficiency of NO3-N at 25 °C was 1.25 times than that at 15 °C. For groundwater, therefore, environmental factors such as water temperature, anaerobic conditions and darkness could influence the NO3-N removal efficiency when TATP-NZVI is present. This study also demonstrated that TATP-NZVI has the potential to be developed as a suitable material for direct remediation of NO3-N-contaminated groundwater.

Citation

Dong, L., Lin, L., Li, Q., Huang, Z., Tang, X., Wu, M., …Scholz, M. (2018). Enhanced nitrate-nitrogen removal by modified attapulgite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron treating simulated groundwater. Journal of Environmental Management, 213(May 18), 151-158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.02.073

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 20, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Feb 26, 2018
• Publication Date: Feb 26, 2018
• Deposit Date: Apr 9, 2019
• Journal: Journal of Environmental Management
• Print ISSN: 0301-4797
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 213
• Issue: May 18
• Pages: 151-158
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.02.073
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.02.073
• Additional Information: Funders : China Association for Science and Technology;Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund;Technology Demonstration Project of the Ministry of Water Resources; Grant Number: 2015QNRC001; Grant Number: CKSF2017062/SH and CKSF2016025/SH; Grant Number: SF-201602