Metal nanoparticles (NPs) can effectively treat contaminants but the easy aggregation of NPs decreases its reactivity and usage. Deposition of NPs on solid supports is a way to keep their property and still maintain high reactivity. From waste biomass, activated carbon (AC) with a high porosity is a good support candidate; however, the preparation of AC or NP/AC nanocomposite generally needs many processes. A one-pot synthesis methodology of AC with nanoscale zerovalent iron (NZVI) is developed in this study. Trichloroethylene (TCE) is chosen as target compound because it widely contaminated the environment and its high toxic risk. NZVI/AC was prepared from one agricultural waste, coir, immersed in ferric salts and then carbonized through simple one-step pyrolysis. One of two dispersants, polyethylene glycol and carboxymethyl cellulose, was added in the preparation process to let nanoscale size of zerovalent iron formed in AC. The effects of dispersants and their concentrations on characteristics of NZVI/ACs were examined. The XRD patterns and XANES spectra confirmed the existence of zerovalent iron in all NZVI/ACs. The grain sizes of NZVI particles are approximately 10-20 nm. NZVI/ACs rapidly removed around 80% TCE within 10 min while AC only removed 20% TCE within the same period. Adsorption and dechlorination of TCE simultaneously occurred on nZVI/ACs. Our synthesized nZVI/AC kept its reactivity and removed 80% of TCE after 6 cycles. This one-step synthesis method can produce effective NZVI/AC nanocomposite for treatment of halogenated organic compounds in the environment.

One-pot synthesized nanoscale zerovalent iron/activated carbon nanocomposite degrades trichloroethylene in water

248th National Meeting (2014)

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