Abstracts:Pharmaceutical waste is highly toxic; its disposal is problematic. This study aimed to investigate the non-catalytic hydrothermal deconstruction of local anesthetics and their packaging materials and to gain some insight into the mechanisms of degradation. The widely used local anesthetics bupivacaine and lignocaine with initial concentrations of 400 and 800 mg/L, respectively, were subjected to 60 min hydrothermal treatment at temperatures ranging between 200 and 350 °C. A reduction in the chemical oxygen demand (COD) was observed for the bupivacaine (up to 91.3%), and lignocaine (up to 87.8%) samples. Short-chain and volatile fatty acids, predominantly acetic acid, were produced from the hydrothermal process. Complete degradation of lignocaine was achieved at 200 °C after 30 min, whereas bupivacaine was completely degraded at 250 °C after 10 min. Nitrogen in the form of ammonia (NH3-N) was detected in the degradation products of both bupivacaine (up to 28.2 mg/L) and lignocaine (up to 60 mg/L). Packaging materials make up a substantial part of pharmaceutical waste. Complete deconstruction of packaging waste was achieved by hydrothermal deconstruction, with the resulting mixture having a total chemical oxygen demand (tCOD) of 784 mg/L and soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) of 732.6 mg/L. The total suspended solids (TSS) were reduced by 93%. Complete deconstruction of a mixture of packaging and pharmaceutical waste was achieved at 300 °C after 60 min. The reactive force field (ReaxFF) molecular dynamic simulation suggested that hydroxyl radicals were responsible for the degradation of bupivacaine and lignocaine. The findings indicate the potential for hydrothermal processing to address the problems caused by local anesthetics and the associated packaging materials in pharmaceutical waste.

Abstracts:Nanoscale zero-valent iron (NZVI) has been proven effective at degrading environmental ‎contaminants of concern, yet field performance as an in situ remedy is lacking due to short ‎reactive lifetimes and poor transport through porous media. The main ‎objective of this study was to investigate and compare the performance of different carbon ‎powders with different properties (surface ‎area, pore-volume, conductivity, functional groups) on trichloroethylene (TCE) removal and transport ‎properties. Carbon ‎powders were used as the support for bimetallic FeNi nanoparticles, the composites were stabilized by poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), and the performance of ‎the modified novel FeNi-carbon composites was compared. It was confirmed that several properties of the carbon were found to not affect TCE degradation by the FeNi-C composites while ‎surface area, pore size, and functional groups are responsible for TCE adsorption by carbon ‎powders. Carbon particle size was found to inversely affect the transport of the composite ‎through porous media, with smaller carbon supports such as carbon black correlating to a wider ‎radius of influence, as compared to larger biochar carbon particulates. Significantly, FeNi-C ‎shows improved TCE degradation over Fe or FeNi nanoparticles alone, indicating the utility of ‎using carbon supports to promote dehalogenation reactions and increase NZVI longevity‎.

Abstracts:Imatinib (IMB) is an antineoplastic agent used as kinase inhibitor in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. IMB can introduce endocrine and mutagenic disrupting effects, which could adversely impact the environmental due to its commercialization and expanded use in recent years. The fungal ligninolytic enzyme manganese peroxidase (MnP) is a powerful oxidant agent that oxidizes Mn2+ to Mn3+ and promotes degradation of organic pollutants as pharmaceuticals. In this work, the efficiency of MnP for degradation of IMB in distilled water (DW) and simulated wastewater (SW) was evaluated. As a first stage, the experimental condition was optimized using the Doehlert design, response surface methodology, and the desirability profile. The results demonstrated that 1.12 U L-1 of MnP, 1.87 mmol L-1 of hydrogen peroxide, and 0.755 mmol L-1 of Mn2+ created optimal conditions within 4 h of enzymatic treatment in both aqueous matrices. The IMB degradation in both study matrices was observed within a reaction time of 8 h, achieving degradation percentages of 68% ± 4 in DW and 47% ± 7 in SW by the end of the experiment. Control experiments were also conducted to verify the synergy between MnP, Mn ions, and H2O2 on degradation experiments. Sixteen new transformation products (TPs) were elucidated by LC-QTOF MS using two diverse and complementary chromatographic methods. According to (Q)SAR tools, most of the TPs showed the development of toxicity and no biodegradability characteristics; however, the mutagenicity potential decreased compared to the parental IMB, which is an encouraging result considering the mutagenic characteristic of IMB.

Abstracts:NH2-MIL-125(Ti) MOFs have been prepared by microwave-assisted synthesis under different conditions of temperature (140–200 ºC) and holding time (15 min to 4 h). The resulting materials have been tested as photocatalysts for the breakdown of six pharmaceuticals in aqueous solution under solar simulated irradiation. A full characterization of the solid samples by X Ray Diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption, UV–visible DRS, and photoluminescence techniques was carried out. The MOF prepared at 200 ºC under 15 min microwave radiation displayed the best-defined crystalline structure and most developed porosity (1030 m2 g-1 BET surface area and 0.45 cm3 g-1 pore volume), with good optical properties for visible light absorption (bandgap 2.59 eV). This photocatalyst showed the best performance in the removal of diclofenac (complete conversion in 3 h; pseudo-first order rate constant of 1.11 ± 0.09 h-1) in batch tests. Further diclofenac photo-degradation experiments under continuous flow confirmed the high stability of the MOF with no loss of photocatalytic activity (10 h of time on stream). The degradation of a mixture of six other pharmaceutical compounds (acetaminophen, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, diclofenac and ibuprofen) was also studied to learn more on the efficiency of the process against compounds of different chemical structure.

Abstracts:The hollow α-Fe2O3 (S3) sample with high-activity was obtained by adding H2PO4− and Cu2+ ions via a hydrothermal processes, and the S3/g-C3N4 composites were synthesized by a simple method. The prepared hollow S3 with higher Ov concentration presented higher photocatalytic degradation activity. In contrast with the S3 and g-C3N4, the S3/g-C3N4 composite exhibited superior visible-light photocatalytic activity. The formation of the S3/g-C3N4 Z-scheme heterojunction improved the separation ability of the photoexcited carriers and the redox ability of the catalyst. The synergistic effect of heterojunction and photo-Fenton in the S3/g-C3N4 degradation system promoted the formation of active species, thereby enhancing the visible-light photocatalytic degradation efficiency of p-Nitrophenol. This study provides a fresh insight for p-NP removal in the wastewater.

Abstracts:Surface properties of fish scales have inspired many research works aiming at fabrication of membranes with specific surface wettability that have been applied vastly for treating oily wastewater. The goal of this study was wettability modification of an electrospun nanofibrous membrane based on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) to make it an effective filtering media for the field of oil-water separation. Surface modification of highly hydrophobic PVDF membrane was performed by coating it with chitosan–graphene oxide nanostructures. The modified membrane acquired superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity properties. Characteristics of the membrane were determined and analyzed using SEM, FT-IR, XRD, AFM and EDX. Contact angle measurements were used to determine membrane wettability. The fabricated membrane showed zero water contact angle and a maximum oil contact angle of 154°. The modified membrane was tested for separation of some oil/water mixtures under different operating conditions. The measured flux of oil/water mixtures in these tests ranged from 30,120 ± 1154 to 33,637 ± 1328 average of 31,673 ± 1447 Lm−2h−1bar−1 under 0.4 bar pressure difference. The test results revealed excellent oil separation efficiency up to 99% and, superior antifouling properties with no significant change in several cycles of oil/water mixtures separation. Furthermore, the modified membrane could effectively separate oil/water mixtures in a broad pH range and could be used with a high flux recovery ratio.

Abstracts:Phosphorus at a low concentration in water should be recovered for the phosphate fertilizer cost in agriculture and the protection of aqueous environment from eutrophication. The reuse of phosphorus through the adsorption material introduced by the low toxic chemicals is a sustainable desire. In this work, a novel organometallic material (OM), EGCG-Fe (EF), was synthesized by Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and iron (Fe). Bamboo Charcoal (BC) was utilized to dispense the aggregates of EF forming the compared absorbent of EFC. The materials were characterized, and the batch sorption experiments were conducted for modeling and analyzing the factors on the adsorption. The results indicated that EF rapidly adsorbed phosphorus achieving the adsorption equilibrium within 20 min when the initial concentration (C0) was lowered to 2.0 ~ 5.0 mg·L−1. The maximum value reached 94.6 ± 0.22 % for recovery rate (R) and 4.61 mg·g−1 for equilibrium adsorption capacity (qe). EF could release directly phosphorus into the water for the reuse as a phosphate fertilizer. BC enforced the interaction of phosphorus and the adsorbents creating the difficult desorption. After the characteristic and the sorption capabilities were discussed, the main adsorption mechanisms of the material were illustrated the intragranular diffusion, ligand exchange, the ester bond and the hydrogen bond. The work proposed the novel green material of EF as a candidate for the sustainable reuse of phosphorus, and suggested the prospective application interests in the recycling of phosphorus by the safe OMs.

Abstracts:A Cr (VI) removing bacteria was isolated from the wastewater collected from Baliya nala (drain) Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, India where coal mining units discharge their effluents after treatment. The bacterial isolate showed maximum sequence similarity with the Microbacterium paraoxydans and it was submitted to the NCBI GenBank under the accession no. MN650647. The bacterial isolate was named as Microbacterium paraoxydans strain VSVM IIT (BHU) accession no. MN650647. The scanning electron microscopic and energy dispersive X-ray analysis indicated that the cells of the bacterial isolate which were grown in Luria-Bertani broth containing hexavalent chromium got enlarged after the bio-accumulation of Cr (VI) whereas Si, O and C ions were observed on cell surface. The optimum growth was observed at 37 ºC and pH 7. It was observed that Cr (VI) enhanced the production of antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione S-transferase, catalase, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase within the cells. The concentration of these enzymes increased with the increase in Cr (VI) concentration in the growth medium. The bacterial isolate could tolerate up to 200 mg/L of Cr (VI) and showed a maximum removal efficiency of 99.96% when grown in a medium containing 50 mg/L Cr (VI).

Abstracts:Highly dispersed carbon-supported Pt (Pt/C) catalysts with various carboxylate stabilizers were prepared by deposition-reduction and characterized. The Pt complexes surrounded by stabilizer retard the aggregation of Pt nanoparticles during the precipitation and reduction process. Increasing the carbon chain length of the stabilizer from one to two resulted in nanosized Pt particles, which afforded more stable nucleation and growth of the Pt. However, increasing the alkyl chain length of the stabilizer to five produced aggregated Pt particles because the particles became entangled during the interaction between the Pt complexes and the carbon support. The Pt/C catalyst prepared by using sodium succinate dibasic as the stabilizer has the highest Pt dispersion at 68%. The Pt/C catalysts with carboxylate stabilizers were evaluated for use in aqueous-phase furfural hydrogenation. Catalysts with a higher Pt dispersion exhibited higher furfural conversion and higher selectivity for furfuryl alcohol. Using sodium succinate as the stabilizer, the optimum conditions afforded 100% furfural conversion and 86.6% furfuryl alcohol selectivity.

Abstracts:Bioreactors for space habitation systems have unique constraints. One type of reactor that could meet these constraints are membrane aerated biological reactors (MABRs). The objective of this work was to establish the performance and optimal loading capacities of multiple MABRs with a variety of habitation waste streams. The MABRs operated over a large range of organic nitrogen (ON) and organic carbon (OC) loading rates (36–220 g/m3-d and 20–200 g/m3-d, respectively) across all wastewaters excluding humidity condensate (HC) where ON and OC loading rates ranged from 1.6 to 11 g/m3-d and 7–55 g/m3-d, respectively. OC and ON transformation rates (29–210 g/m3-d and 23–170 g/m3-d, respectively) were proportional to loading rates and similar to MABRs treating terrestrial high strength wastewaters at similar loadings. MABR maximum loading rates are limited by ON oxidation which controls pH. Above a pH of ~7.8 ON removal is inhibited by free ammonium due to the elevated concentrations of ON in all wastewaters excluding HC. While loading rates are lower than typical terrestrial systems, the MABRs stably operated for up to 5 years with limited maintenance and no solids processing. This work supports the use of MABRs to reliably stabilize habitation wastewaters with minimal consumables. These results also support the use of these MABRs for terrestrial high strength, low volume wastewaters where complex technology may be unsupportable, such as in rural or developing communities with no centralized treatment or for applications where typical two-phase aeration can lead to undesirable off gassing.