Physicochemical regeneration of high silica zeolite Y used to clean-up water polluted with sulfonamide antibiotics

Abstract

High silica zeolite Y has been positively evaluated to clean-up water polluted with sulfonamides, an antibiotic family which is known to be involved in the antibiotic resistance evolution. To define possible strategies for the exhausted zeolite regeneration, the efficacy of some chemico-physical treatments on the zeolite loaded with four different sulfonamides was evaluated. The evolution of photolysis, Fenton-like reaction, thermal treatments, and solvent extractions and the occurrence in the zeolite pores of organic residues eventually entrapped was elucidated by a combined thermogravimetric (TGA-DTA), diffractometric (XRPD), and spectroscopic (FT-IR) approach. The chemical processes were not able to remove the organic guest from zeolite pores and a limited transformation on embedded molecules was observed. On the contrary, both thermal treatment and solvent extraction succeeded in the regeneration of the zeolite loaded from deionized and natural fresh water. The recyclability of regenerated zeolite was evaluated over several adsorption/regeneration cycles, due to the treatment efficacy and its stability as well as the ability to regain the structural features of the unloaded material.

Insights into Adsorption of Chlorobenzene in High Silica MFI and FAU Zeolites Gained from Chromatographic and Diffractometric Techniques

“…It can be seen that the saturation capacity of these zeolites are higher than those obtained with graphite materials (i.e., 28.3 mg/g for dichlorobenzene) [41], and in particular Y zeolite has a saturation value higher than adsorbents single-walled carbon nanotubes, especially if they are partially oxidized [42]. In addition HSZs can be regenerated without significant loss of their adsorption properties [5,6,29,30]. Therefore hydrophobic zeolites are very promising adsorbents for the removal of chlorinated aromatic compounds from water.…”

“…Additionally, fast kinetics, mechanical, biological and chemical stability make them promising and efficient adsorbents [4,[6][7][8][26][27][28]. Furthermore, their high thermal stability guarantees the possibility of regeneration through thermal treatments in order to reintroduce them in new adsorption processes [5,[29][30][31][32][33].…”

“…This work is part of a wider study aimed at systematically evaluating the adsorptive capacity of high silica zeolites (HSZ) (e.g., mordenite, ZSM-5, faujasite, beta, ferrierite [4,7,10,29,30]) for fuel-based compounds differing in chemical properties (e.g., polarity, functional groups, size, host-guest interactions, etc. ), which can provide useful information to accurately predict the behavior of HSZs as well as improve their individual performance.…”

Excellent performance of copper based metal organic framework in adsorptive removal of toxic sulfonamide antibiotics from wastewater

“…The efficiency of adsorption process is highly affected by the type of adsorbate, adsorbent, and operating conditions. Several adsorbents have been reported for the adsorption of antibiotics, e.g., multiwall carbon nanotubes, activated carbons, zeolites, clay, and metal organic frameworks (MOFs) [2,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

Editorial for Special Issue “New Insights in Stability, Structure and Properties of Porous Materials”

“…In order for the adsorption process to be cost-effective, the progressive deactivation of saturated sorbents has become an essential task [12][13][14][15][16]. Thermal treatment is the most common regeneration technique, where organic host molecules are decomposed and/or oxidized at high temperature.…”