Emerging bio-recalcitrant contaminants are one of the most relevant stressors affecting surface water quality. Current methods for treating these compounds are highly costly, energy consuming, or generate additional environmental problems such as sludge deposition, high salts concentrations, and other derived organic contaminants and wastes that are produced along the processes of catalysts production and wastewater treatment. It is therefore necessary to develop new catalysts enabling the chemical degradation of emerging bio-recalcitrant contaminants without causing additional environmental hazard. Different magnetically-recoverable iron-based catalysts were developed by modifying their traditional preparation techniques to turn them into more environmentally-friendly methodologies. Their catalytic activity was investigated by the solar-assisted photocatalytic treatment of emerging contaminant compounds in both an aqueous synthetic solution and raw municipal wastewater. All three newly eco-designed catalysts showed magnetic properties that allowed its separation and recovery after their use, and addressed an optimum solar-photocatalytic treatment performance.

Newly eco-designed magnetically separable catalysts for environmental applications

251st National Meeting (2016)

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