Chromium is one of the most common metal contaminants in surface and subsurface environments. It is a redox active metal, with two commonly encountered valence states in the environment, chromium(III) and chromium(VI). These two oxidation states have markedly different physical, chemical, and toxicological properties. Chromium(III) is nontoxic (it is actually essential for human health) and has low environmental mobility while hexavalent chromium is highly mobile and is is a class A human carcinogen and an acute irritant to living cells. Chromium (VI) is used in a wide variety of industrial processes that lead to a critical need for efficient cost-effective methods for its reduction to chromium(III), preferably in a manner by which the trivalent chromium is itself immobilized. Bulk pyrite in the form of finely ground powder was found to reduce chromate at ambient pH and bind most, but not all, of the chromium(III) product in the solid. Finer particles performed better than coarser ones implying that nanoparticulate pyrite would be a superior reagent. Indeed, it was found that not only does nano-pyrite rapidly reduce chromate ions to chromium(III) but all of the chromium is completely adsorbed. Furthermore, the remediation reaction does not release iron into solution like bulk pyrite does.<br/>

Nano-pyrite as a highly efficient reagent for remediation of chromate

255th National Meeting (2018)

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