Graphite powder coated polyurethane sponge hollow tube as a high-efficiency and cost-effective oil-removal materials for continuous oil collection from water surface

In this study, the cost-effective graphite powder (GPd)-coated polyurethane (PGPd-PU) sponge hollow tube (PGPd-PUHT) was prepared for high-efficient continuous oil removal, the hydrophobicity-superoleophilicity PGPd-PU sponge was fabricated through a simple dip-coating method, which dipping PU sponge into GPd dispersion and drying, then coating polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on sponge skeleton, as-prepared sponge could selectively absorb a variety of oils up to 34 times of its own weight for dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The PGPd-PUHT was prepared via wrapping PGPd-PU sponge on porous tubular support. The obtained PGPd-PUHT could continuously collect various types of oils from water surface with flux as high as 1.52 kL/m²h, and excellent separation efficiency (up to 97.7%) for toluene, as well as remarkable reusability. Moreover, a continuous floating oil collection device based on PGPd-PUHT was designed which showed excellent floating oil collection ability. In addition, our strategy possesses the advantages of low cost, simple preparation, highly efficient, and easily scale-up, showing a great potential for dealing with practical oil spill remediation. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48921.     

费托油品中氧化物脱除方法的研究进展

介绍了国内外费托油品中氧化物脱除的几种方法:萃取法、精馏法、吸附法、加氢法、化学法等,分析了各种方法的优缺点及研究进展。提出氧化物脱除方法的选择应基于不同氧化物脱除方法的特点和费托油品氧化物的脱除目标,指出多种方法组合的方式是未来脱除费托油品中氧化物的发展方向。     

Application and mechanism of Fenton-like iron-based functional materials for arsenite removal

Between the two major arsenic-containing salts in natural water, arsenite (As(III)) is far more harmful to human and the environment than arsenate (As(V)) due to its high toxicity and transportability. Therefore, preoxidation of As(III) to As(V) is considered to be an effective means to reduce the toxicity of arsenic and to promote the removal efficiency of arsenic. Due to their high catalytic activity and arsenic affinity, iron-based functional materials can quickly oxidize As(III) to As(V) in heterogeneous Fenton-like systems, and then remove As(V) from water through adsorption and surface coprecipitation. In this review, the effects of different iron-based functional materials such as zero-valent iron and iron (hydroxy) oxides on arsenic removal are compared, and the catalytic oxidation mechanism of As(III) in heterogeneous Fenton process is further clarified. Finally, the main challenges and opportunities faced by iron-based As(III) oxidation functional materials are prospected.     

High-performance molecular-separation ceramic membranes derived from oxidative cross-linked polytitanocarbosilane

Polytitanocarbosilane (TiPCS)-derived ceramic membranes were fabricated using a pre-ceramic polymer. Special attention was focused on a process of thermal-oxidative curing that was used to induce cross-linking and the effect of this process on the ceramic yield, thermal stability, oxidation resistance, and microstructure of TiPCS. The cross-linked TiPCS powders showed a ceramic yield and thermal stability that were higher than that from the non-cross-linked version. In addition, the cross-linked TiPCS with uniform micropores showed higher levels of N₂ and CO₂ adsorption capacity, BET surface area, and micropore volume than the non-cross-linked versions, and the cross-linking process enhanced the stability of the pore structure at high temperature. The cross-linked TiPCS membranes showed high H₂ permeance (1.49 × 10⁻⁶ mol/(m² s Pa)) with sub-nanopores (H₂/SF₆ selectivity: 12 000, H₂/N₂: 10), and in addition higher oxidation resistance than their non-cross-linked counterparts. Furthermore, the influence of the concentration of the TiPCS precursor coating solution was optimized and the hydrothermal stability of the membranes at high temperatures was also evaluated. The optimized membrane demonstrated great performance for the pervaporation removal of methanol in binary azeotropic systems of either MeOH/butyl acetate or MeOH/toluene, and it also showed high hydrothermal stability with excellent dehumidification performance under high temperatures.     

Novel direct Z-scheme AgI/N–TiO2 photocatalyst for removal of polluted tetracycline under visible irradiation

In the study, we doped N into TiO₂ lattice to narrow its band gap energy. Then, the synthesized N doped TiO₂ material was combined with AgI to form AgI/N–TiO₂ (ANT) direct Z scheme materials. The synthesized materials were utilized for photocatalytic removal of tetracycline (TC) using visible irradiation as an excitation source. We also conducted radical scavenging experiments to determine photocatalytic degradation mechanism. We investigated that these photo-excited electrons (e⁻) in N–TiO₂ conduction band tended to combine with the left holes (h⁺) in AgI valence band maintaining h⁺ in the valence band of the N–TiO₂ and e⁻ in the conduction band of the AgI. The remained e⁻ and h⁺ have high redox potential to initiate for photocatalytic decomposition of TC. Thus, the TC degradation by the ANT materials were significant greater than those by single components (AgI or N–TiO₂). We also investigated that the TC degradation by the ANT-30 material, which the AgI: N–TiO₂ molar ratio was 30%, exhibited that highest degradation efficiency. Finally, the ANT photocatalyst exhibited excellent stability during TC degradation processes supporting for its promising potential application in practical systems.     

Silica/mullite fiber composite membrane with double-layer structure for efficient sub-micrometer dust removal

Here, we developed silica/mullite fiber composite membranes with double-layer structure by a simple vacuum procedure for the removal of sub-micrometer dust. The support with three-dimensional skeleton structure exhibited high porosity (higher than 90%), low density (lower than 0.25?g/cm³) and high compressive strength (higher than 0.55?MPa) at 1000?°C. By controlling the mass ratio of silica sol to mullite fiber, we can obtain uniform and complete filtering layers with different thicknesses. The composite membranes exhibited high PM filtration efficiency with 99% for 1–10?µm, 97% for 0.5?µm and 90% for 0.3?µm. These samples had high air flow with very low pressure drop (lower than 600?Pa when airflow velocity reached 1?m/s). These results indicated that the silica/mullite fiber composite membranes were very promising for PM pollution control in the field of hot gas filtration.