The presentation will focus on Environmental Nanotechnology (EN) research done at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, and at the University of Texas at El Paso. Our group has workled on the use of nano Zero Valent Iron (nZVI) for heavy metal removal from wetland soil samples found at Las Cucharillas Marsh, at Cataño, Puerto Rico. Phytonanoremediation using Black Mangrove (A. germinans), found at Las Cucharillas, and nZVI was done in selected contaminated soil samples. The soil sampling zone of wetlands was divided into 9 plots under different land use types (Pterocarpus zone, mangroves zone, and a new zone of restoration). The wetland soils were collected at a depth of 10 cm and were analyzed by ICP-AES to determine the sites with highest concentrations of As, Cd, Ni, and Pb. The remediation products, after thermal treatment, were reused in photoelectrochemical cells with resonable quantum efficiencies when compared to TiO2. nZVI was also used for uranium salt removal from laboratory prepared contamited waters. Preliminary studies showed the conversion of U6+ to U4+ at nZVI surface through a surface redox process. The U-nZVI remediaiton product was characterized using boron doped diamond electrodes as a way to electrochemcially determine uranium concentrations, i.e. a remediation and sensing method. Moreover, the remediation product that was thermally treated, U-nZVI, was evaluated as catalysts for the fuel cell oxygen reduction reaction. All remedation products have been characterized by ICP, SEM-EDS, TEM, and XPS. The nZVI results conclude that this technology is promising as a "use and reusing process" for environmental remediation.

Nano zero valent iron for heavy metals environmental remediaton at Las Cucharillas Marsh at Cataño, Puerto Rico

ACS Spring 2022

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