The constant growth in population worldwide has resulted in an ever increasing need for safe, clean potable water. As such, there is an ever increasing demand for cost-effective technologies for water and wastewater treatment that can meet the global demands and the rigorous water quality standards and at the same maximizing pollutant efficiency removal. Current remediation technologies have failed to keep pace with these demands without becoming cost-prohibitive. Recently, nanotechnology has been sought as promising option to achieve these goals. The use of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles as adsorbents has led to a new class of magnetic separation strategies for water treatment. We have developed magnetic nanocomposite systems able to capture polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), as model organic pollutants, in aqueous solution, providing a cost-effective water remediation technique. Two distinct methods were employed to develop these polyphenolic nanocomposite materials. The first utilized a surface initiated polymerization of polyphenolic-based crosslinkers and co-monomers on the surface of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles to create a core-shell nanocomposite. The second utilized a bulk polymerization method to create macroscale films composed of iron oxide nanoparticles incorporated into a polyphenolic-based polymer matrix, and then were processed into microparticles. Both methods produce nanocomposite materials that can bind chlorinated organics, can rapidly separate bound organics from contaminated water sources using magnetic decantation, and can use thermal destabilization of the polymer matrix for contaminant release and material regeneration. The polyphenol functionalities used to bind organic pollutants were quercetin multiacrylate (QMA) and curcumin multiacrylate (CMA), which are acrylated forms of the nutrient polyphenols which create high affinity binding sites with expected affinity for chlorinated organics. Particles were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and UV-visible spectroscopy stability analysis. Pollutant binding studies were performed using PCB 126 as a model organic pollutant to determine binding affinity and capacity, and this was quantified using gas chromatography coupled to electron capture detector (GC-ECD). It was demonstrated that the materials effectively bound PCBs in aqueous media.

Magnetic nanocomposite materials as capture agents for organic pollutants in water treatment

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.