The rapid developments of cities and industrial sectors have been accompanied by increased hazardous chemical discharges into their environments. Although nitrate (NO3-) is an essential component in the life cycle of biological species, it poses severe risks to public health and the ecosystem at elevated concentrations. Major man-induced sources of nitrate include the extensive use of fertilizers and the discharge of poorly treated industrial and domestic wastewater. The development of catalysts for the efficient removal of NO3- is a promising technique for treating water and wastewater in a controllable way. Herein, nano-sized bimetallic catalysts supported by ZIF-8-derived carbon (C-ZIF-8) were developed as an appealing treatment technology for effective catalytic NO3- reduction with accelerated reaction kinetics. The catalyst synthesis temperature (600 – 900 ○C), promoter metal (Cu, In, Sn), and metal loading (1.0, 2.4, 3.6%) have been optimized to achieve the highest performance and stability during the catalytic nitrate reduction process. We also investigated the effect of significant reaction conditions, namely concentrations of catalyst, contaminant, reducing agent, and pH, on the reactivity and selectivity of the catalytic process. The Sn(3.6%)-Pd(1%)/C-ZIF-8 catalyst demonstrates complete NO3- removal in 20 minutes with high selectivity towards the products under varied conditions. The experimental results provide insights for the development of enhanced nitrate reduction processes with the ZIF-derived bimetallic nanocatalysts and retrofitting of wastewater treatment plants with nitrogen removal problems.

Catalytic removal of aqueous nitrate by bimetallic catalyst supported on ZIF-8-derived nanocarbon

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