The coagulation behavior of aluminum salts in a eutrophic source water was investigated from the viewpoint of Al-(III) hydrolysis species transformation. Particular emphasis was paid to the coagulation effect of Al 13 species on removing particles and organic matter. The coagulation behavior of Al coagulants with different basicities was examined through jar tests and hydrolyzed Al(III) speciation distribution characterization in the coagulation process. The results showed that the coagulation efficiency of Al coagulants positively correlated with the content of Al 13 in the coagulation process rather than in the initial coagulants. Aluminum chloride (AlCl 3 ) was more effective than polyaluminum chloride (PACl) in removing turbidity and dissolved organic matter in eutrophic water because AlCl 3 could not only generate Al 13 species but also function as a pH control agent in the coagulation process. The solidstate 27 Al NMR spectra revealed that the precipitates formed from AlCl 3 and PACl were significantly different and proved that the preformed Al 13 polymer was more stable than the in situ formed one during the coagulation process. Through regulating Al speciation, pH control could improve the coagulation process especially in DOC removal, and AlCl 3 benefited most from pH control.

No abstract

Owing to the rich porosity and uniform pore size, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) offer substantial advantages over other materials for the precise and fast membrane separation. However, achieving ultrathin water-stable MOF membranes remains a great challenge. Here, we first report the successful exfoliation of two-dimensional (2D) monolayer aluminum tetra-(4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin framework (termed Al-MOF) nanosheets. Ultrathin water-stable Al-MOF membranes are assembled by using the exfoliated nanosheets as building blocks. While achieving a water flux of up to 2.2 mol m−2 hour−1 bar−1, the obtained 2D Al-MOF laminar membranes exhibit rejection rates of nearly 100% on investigated inorganic ions. The simulation results confirm that intrinsic nanopores of the Al-MOF nanosheets domain the ion/water separation, and the vertically aligned aperture channels are the main transport pathways for water molecules.

Humic acid (HA) was extracted and separated into different molecular weight (MW) fractions, then coagulated by aluminum chloride and polyaluminum chloride (PACl). The removal of disinfection byproduct (DBP) precursors and the aluminum speciation variation of the coagulants were investigated in detail. In particular, the role of aluminum speciation in the removal of DBP precursors was discussed. During the coagulation process, AlCl 3 hydrolyzed into dominating in situ Al 13 species at pH 5.5. The in situ Al 13 species exhibited better removal ability for haloacetic acid (HAA) precursors than PACl. At pH 7.5, in situ hydrolyzed Al 13 species of AlCl 3 decomposed into dimeric Al species. In this case, preformed Al 13 of PACl had a high removal ability of HAA precursors. Specially, the greatest reduction of HAA precursors with a low MW (<30 kDa) was through charge neutralization at pH 5.5, and that of HAA precursors in high MW (>30 kDa) fractions was through adsorption at pH 7.5. Different from HAA precursors, the in situ Al 13 species did not have a high removal ability of trihalomethane (THM) precursors. Therefore, PACl exhibited a better removal ability of THM precursors than AlCl 3 at different pH values. In the different MW fractions, the greatest reduction of THM precursors was through charge neutralization at pH 5.5.

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The transport of hydrated ions across nanochannels is central to biological systems and membrane-based applications, yet little is known about their hydrated structure during transport due to the absence of in situ characterization techniques. Herein, we report experimentally resolved ion dehydration during transmembrane transport using modified in situ liquid ToF-SIMS in combination with MD simulations for a mechanistic reasoning. Notably, complete dehydration was not necessary for transport to occur across membranes with sub-nanometer pores. Partial shedding of water molecules from ion solvation shells, observed as a decrease in the average hydration number, allowed the alkali-metal ions studied here (lithium, sodium, and potassium) to permeate membranes with pores smaller than their solvated size. We find that ions generally cannot hold more than two water molecules during this sterically limited transport. In nanopores larger than the size of the solvation shell, we show that ionic mobility governs the ion hydration number distribution. Viscous effects, such as interactions with carboxyl groups inside the membrane, preferentially hinder the transport of the mono-and dihydrates. Our novel technique for studying ion solvation in situ represents a significant technological leap for the nanofluidics field and may enable important advances in ion separation, biosensing, and battery applications.

An ultrahigh arsenic uptake capacity was achieved using a hierarchically porous UiO-66 with tunable mesopores and active sites.

This paper investigates a novel sulfur-oxidizing autotrophic denitrifying anaerobic fluidized bed membrane bioreactor (AnFB-MBR) that has the potential to overcome the limitations of conventional sulfur-oxidizing autotrophic denitrification systems. The AnFB-MBR produced consistent high-quality product water when fed by a synthetic groundwater with NO . Successful membrane cleaning was practiced with cleaning cycles of 35-81 days, which had no obvious effect on the AnFB-MBR performance. The 15 N-tracer analyses elucidated that nitrogen was converted into 15 N 2 -N and 15 N-biomass accounting for 88.1-93.1 % and 6.4-11.6 % of the total nitrogen produced, respectively. Only 0.3-0.5 % of removed nitrogen was in form of 15 N 2 O-N in sulfur-oxidizing autotrophic denitrification process, reducing potential risks of a significant amount of N 2 O emissions. The sulfur-oxidizing autotrophic denitrifying bacterial consortium was composed mainly of bacteria from Proteobacteria, Chlorobi, and Chloroflexi phyla, with genera Thiobacillus, Sulfurimonas, and Ignavibacteriales dominating the consortium. The pyrosequencing assays also suggested that the stable microbial communities corresponded to the elevated performance of the AnFB-MBR. Overall, this research described relatively high nitrate removal, acceptable flux, indicating future potential for the technology in practice.