Electrogenerated oxychlorides induced overlooked negative effects on electro-oxidation wastewater treatment in terms of over-evaluated COD removal efficiency and biotoxicity

Spatial Confinement of Co Nanoparticles in N-Doped Carbon Nanorods for Wastewater Purification via CaSO3 Activation

Spatial confinement of organic pollutants and reactive oxygen species (e.g., SO4•- and •OH) with ultrashort lifetime inside the scale of chemical theoretical diffusion could provide a greatly promising strategy to overcome the limitation of mass transfer in the heterogeneous Fenton-like oxidation process. Herein, we first reported spatial confinement of cobalt nanoparticles in N-doped carbon nanorods (Co-NCNRs), by encapsulating Co nanoparticles into N-doped carbon nanorods, in activating CaSO3 for antibiotic degradation. Compared to Na2SO3 and NaHSO3, CaSO3 could slowly and persistently discharge SO32- due to its low solubility, thus avoiding the depletion of the generated SO3•- and •OH under the high concentration of sulfite ions. Fully physical characterizations confirmed that the 3D hydrogel was mostly transformed into the nanorod structure of Co-NCNRs at 550 °C. Co atoms were successfully nanoconfined into N-doped carbon nanorods, which contributes to mass transfer and prevents the agglomeration of Co nanoparticles, thus enhancing its catalytic activity and stability in activating CaSO3 for water decontamination. The catalytic performance, kinetic research, influences of inorganic anions, pH, and degradation mechanism of chlortetracycline degradation catalyzed by the Co-NCNRs/CaSO3 system have been studied in detail. This work not only proposed a facile method for synthesis of nanoconfined catalyst but also provided an excellent Co-NCNRs/CaSO3 system for wastewater treatment.

Advanced treatment of antibiotic-polluted wastewater by a consortium composed of bacteria and mixed cyanobacteria

This study constructed a cyanobacteria-bacteria consortium using a mixture of non-toxic cyanobacteria (Synechococcus sp. and Chroococcus sp.) immobilized in calcium alginate and native bacteria in wastewater. The consortium was used for the advanced treatment of sulfamethoxazole-polluted wastewater and the production of cyanobacterial lipid. Mixed cyanobacteria increased the abundances of denitrifying bacteria and phosphorus-accumulating bacteria as well as stimulated various functional enzymes in the wastewater bacterial community, which efficiently removed 70.01-71.86% of TN, 91.45-97.04% of TP and 70.72-76.85% of COD from the wastewater. The removal efficiency of 55.29-69.90% for sulfamethoxazole was mainly attributed to the upregulation of genes encoding oxidases, reductases, oxidoreductases and transferases in two cyanobacterial species as well as the increased abundances of Stenotrophomonas, Sediminibacterium, Arenimonas, Novosphingobium, Flavobacterium and Hydrogenophaga in wastewater bacterial community. Transcriptomic responses proved that mixed cyanobacteria presented an elevated lipid productivity of 33.90 mg/L/day as an adaptive stress response to sulfamethoxazole. Sediminibacterium, Flavobacterium and Exiguobacterium in the wastewater bacterial community may also promote cyanobacterial lipid synthesis through symbiosis. Results of this study proved that the mixed cyanobacteria-bacteria consortium was a promising approach for advanced wastewater treatment coupled to cyanobacterial lipid production.