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The solid-liquid separation ability of adsorbents is of great significance for improving the recovery efficiency and reducing the cost. Herein, a novel floating-magnetically responsive silica adsorbent (FMSA) was prepared and applied to the adsorption of cationic dyes from aqueous solution. FMSA with self-floating and magnetic response properties exhibited great solid-liquid separation ability and adsorption performance for cationic dyes. According to the Langmuir model, the theoretical saturated adsorption capacity of FMSA for Basic Blue 7 (BB-7) and Crystal Violet (CV) reached 1632.55 mg g−1 and 1587.23 mg g−1, respectively. Thermodynamic experiments manifested that the adsorption was a spontaneous endothermic process with increasing entropy. After 5 adsorption-desorption processes, FMSA's adsorption capacity for BB-7 and CV remained above 80%, indicating that it has satisfactory stability and reusability. Furthermore, the pH effect, isotherm, kinetics, ion interference experiments and characterization analysis manifested that the adsorption was mainly chemical adsorption with an ion exchange process. This research aims to bring some inspiration for the combined use of floating separation and magnetic separation to achieve more flexible, efficient and energy-saving solid-liquid separation. [Display omitted] • A floating-magnetically responsive silica adsorbent was successfully developed. • Obtained adsorbent has both self-floating ability and magnetic response properties. • FMSA showed great reusability and resistance to ion interference. • BB-7 and CV were efficiently removed in a wide pH range. • Powerful electrostatic interaction and ion exchange ensure efficient adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural polymeric flocculants as sludge conditioners have received great attention due to their non-toxic and biodegradable advantages. However, the application of amphiphilic natural flocculants as sludge conditioners is rarely reported. In this work, the novel chitosan-based flocculants (CS-g-PAO) with amphiphilic structure were synthesized by ultraviolet light initiated method for the enhancement of sludge dewatering performance. The solubility of CS-g-PAO was significantly improved in a wide pH range (2.0–10.0). Various characterization methods were used to investigate the structure, thermal stability and surface morphology of copolymers, suggesting the successful synthesis of CS-g-PAO. In dewatering experiments, CS-g-PAO showed superior dewatering performance, and filter cake moisture content could be decreased to 77.98% from 95.14%. Moreover, the results of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) components indicated that hydrophobic effect of CS-g-PAO was beneficial to remove the protein in S-EPS and TB-EPS, which had the crucial influence on dewatering performance. Furthermore, the dewatering mechanism was discussed based on the effects of zeta potential, apparent viscosity, surface tension and flocs structure on dewaterability. Results revealed that CS-g-PAO had strong hydrophobic association effect and surface activity. In addition, enhanced charge neutralization and hydrophobic interaction played a synergetic role in improving the dewaterability of CS-g-PAO. Image 1 • A novel chitosan-based flocculant with amphiphilic structure was synthesized. • The water solubility of the amphiphilic flocculant was improved in a wide pH range. • The amphiphilic flocculant showed superior dewatering efficiency under low dosage. • All results confirmed the role of charge neutralization and hydrophobic attraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapidly increased discharges of various complex dyeing wastewaters, adsorbents are required to own more properties such as cost-effectiveness, amphoteric ability, and rapid solid-liquid separation ability, to treat dyeing wastewaters. A multi-functional adsorbent was synthesized by co-grafting m-phenylenediamine and sodium allyl sulfonate on the surface of a low-cost base-material: hollow glass microsphere (HGM). Characterization results indicated the surface roughness and –Si–OH groups of HGM were increased by NaOH corrosion; functional groups such as aromatic-rings, –NH 2 , and –HSO 3 − were grafted on the surface of HGM. The synthesized adsorbent showed amphoteric attraction abilities for anionic acid green 25 and cationic basic fuchsin dyes. Kinetics and isotherms studies suggested the PSO model and Langmuir model were most satisfactory for adsorption processes, the theoretical maximum adsorption capacities for acid green 25 and basic fuchsin reached 454.55 and 588.24 mg g−1, respectively. The mechanism investigations indicated the electrostatic attraction, π-π stacking, and hydrogen bonds were the potential interaction forces between dyes and adsorbents. The synthesized material owns self-floating ability due to the hollow structure of HGM, over 95.7% of adsorbents were collected at water surface via the self-floating process in 12 min, which was beneficial to the solid-liquid separation process and the reuse of adsorbents. The technologies developed by these research efforts can serve as templates for synthesizing multi-functional adsorbents for complex wastewaters decontaminations. [Display omitted] • First demonstration of an amphoteric self-floating adsorbent. • The adsorption capacities of anionic/cationic dyes reached 454.55/588.24 mg g−1. • Electrostatic force, π-π stacking, hydrogen bond were dominant adsorption mechanisms. • Over 95.7% of adsorbents were collected at the water surface within 12 min. • The multi-functional adsorbent is beneficial for cleaner production of dyeing goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmentally friendly magnetic sodium alginate beads with glutaraldehyde cross-linking catalyzed by acetic acid-hydrochloric acid were successfully designed (FSSi@SA), and the magnetic bio-sorbents after amide reaction (FSSi@SA-sula) were utilized to absorb fluoroquinolone antibiotics in water. After amidation, FSSi@SA-sula exhibited strong pH adaptability (pH = 6.0–12.0). Langmuir and pseudo-first-order models can better describe the isotherm and kinetic process well, respectively. Under the optimization conditions with pH = 7 and temperature of 318.15 K, the maximum adsorption capacities of FSSi@SA-sula on the third-generation FQs ciprofloxacin (CIP) and the fourth-generation FQs moxifloxacin (MOX) respectively reached 365.66 and 149.57 mg g−1. The thermodynamics research indicated that the as-prepared FSSi@SA-sula is spontaneous and feasible. And after five adsorption cycles, the loss of adsorption capacity was less than 20% for both CIP and MOX, demonstrating the fine reusability and stability of the designed magnetic bio-sorbent. This study provides some ideas for facile synthesis of acid-catalyzed sodium alginate-glutaraldehyde cross-linking, which has promising applications in grafting various types of groups onto the retained carboxyl groups of sodium alginate spheres for the various contaminants removal in wastewater. [Display omitted] • FSSi@SA-sula beads were prepared by acid-catalyzed glutaraldehyde cross-linking. • FSSi@SA-sula showed excellent adsorption and reusability for CIP and MOX. • Langmuir and pseudo-first-order models better fitted adsorption process. • The mechanisms include electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding and n-π EDA. • Provided new ideas for facile synthesis of functional sodium alginate adsorbents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The residual antibiotics in the environment will pose a threat to the environment and human health. Thus, it is imperative to develop a smart water treatment material to remove and detect antibiotics from aqueous environment simultaneously. In this study, magnetic Cu–Ni–S@Ni foam was synthesized by liquid phase vulcanization method to in-situ load Cu–Ni–S nanostructures on the surface of Ni foam. The novelty of this material is the combination of adsorption-flocculation technology and semi-quantitative detection technology. Batch experiments showed that Cu–Ni–S@Ni foam has a high removal rate of norfloxacin (NOR) (96.92%), wide pH adaptability (pH = 4.0–10.0) and strong ion interference resistance (0.1–100 mmol/L). According to the Langmuir isotherm, the removal capacity can reach 417.4 mg/g at 25 °C, which is much higher than that of other water treatment agents reported in most studies. Characterization analysis indicated that the main removal mechanisms are surface complexation, cation bridging, electrostatic attraction, precipitation and flocculation. Transmission FTIR detection experiments showed that NOR on Cu–Ni–S@Ni foam has easily recognizable FTIR fingerprints; the intensity of characteristic peaks roughly reflects the concentration information of NOR to some extent. This semi-quantitative detection method, requiring simple operation without the fabrication of KBr tablet, has a wide linear range (5–100 mg/L) and a low limit of detection (4.6 mg/L). Therefore, Cu–Ni–S@Ni foam can be used for simultaneous removal and semi-quantitative detection of NOR in wastewater. It has potential application value in wastewater treatment and water quality monitoring. [Display omitted] • The one pot synthesized Cu–Ni–S@Ni foam could remove and detect NOR simultaneously. • Both adsorption and flocculation, induced by ligand-promoted dissolution, were involved in the removal process. • The Cu–Ni–S@Ni foam performed high removal capacity (417.4 mg/g at 25 °C) for NOR. • A semi-quantitative detection method based on transmission FTIR was developed without the fabrication of KBr tablet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel magnetic sorbent based on silica coated iron oxide (Fe 3 O 4 /SiO 2 , denoted as FS), poly(ethylene imine) (PEI), sodium p-styrenesulfonate (SPS) and sodium alginate (SA) polymer (Fe 3 O 4 /SiO 2 /SA-PEI-SPS, denoted as FSSEP) is successfully prepared by free radical polymerization. Antibiotic (ciprofloxacin, CPX), dye (methylene blue, MB) and heavy metal (copper ion, Cu2+) are used to test the adsorption capacity of the prepared adsorbent. Compared with other adsorbents, FSSEP exhibited good capture efficiency for the pollutants in this study, especially for organic pollutants (CPX and MB). The maximum sorption capacity of FSSEP reached 203.99 mg g−1 for CPX, 423.69 mg g−1 for MB, 41.81 mg g−1 for Cu2+. Hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interaction, π-π interaction and cationic exchange are involved in the sorption mechanism. This study suggests a strategy for the design and synthesis of eco-friendly modified sodium alginate adsorbents through free radical polymerization and explores their potential application in the field of removal of different types of toxic substances. [Display omitted] • A new magnetic composite of FSSEP was synthesized by free radical polymerization. • Dye (MB), antibiotic (CFX) and Cu2+ ion were efficiently captured via FSSEP. • FSSEP microparticles can be regenerated and quickly separated from solution. • Adsorption mechanism of FSSEP was analyzed and discussed in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selective separation and recovery of valuable metals from complex polluted wastewater is of great significance to the protection of water resources and the realization of resource recycling. Herein, the chitosan-coated magnetic silica core-shell nanoparticles (FO@SD@CS) were fabricated and applied as adsorbents for highly selective removal of precious metals silver ions (Ag(I)) from complex wastewater. In multi-ion compound polluted solutions, FO@SD@CS showed excellent selective adsorption of Ag(I) in a wide pH range, and an enhancement of the highly selective adsorption capacity of Ag(I), which was increased from 85.86 to 126.74 mg g−1 when the concentrations of methyl blue (MB) coexisted in the solution from 0 to 40 mg L−1 at pH 6.0. The results of Ag(I) single system batch adsorption experiments illustrated that the adsorption behavior of FO@SD@CS to Ag(I) shows obvious pH responsiveness, the adsorption capacity of Ag(I) increases with the increasing of pH value. The results of the adsorption isotherm and kinetics demonstrated that Langmuir and pseudo-second-order kinetics can better describe the adsorption behavior of Ag(I) on FO@SD@CS, indicating that the adsorption process was controlled by chemisorption and the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity reached 116.28 mg g−1 at room temperature. Additionally, in the dye-metal binary system, the coexisting MB promoted the adsorption capacity of FO@SD@CS to Ag(I) from 116.28 to 156.25 mg g−1, showing a synergistic adsorption effect. This study shows that the enhanced selective separation and recovery of metal ions from wastewater based on anion-synergistic not only provides new ideas for wastewater treatment, but also has important significance for water resources reuse. [Display omitted] • A magnetic adsorbent with core-shell structure was successfully prepared. • FO@SD@CS exhibited higher acid resistance than uncoated silica adsorbent. • FO@SD@CS showed high selectivity in capturing silver from multi-ion solutions. • Coexisting MB enhanced the selective adsorption of Ag(I) in complex wastewater. • Possible adsorption mechanisms in both single and binary systems were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metal activating sulfite system has attracted widespread attention as a novel advanced oxidation process recently. In this study, a silica-supported highly dispersed cobalt catalyst was prepared using Co ammine complex as precursor, characterized by transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and so forth, and used to activate sulfite for the removal of organic pollutants. The as-prepared catalyst displayed a durable and remarkable catalytic activation of sulfite for organic degradation in sequential experiments. The mechanistic study corroborated the dual roles of sulfite as a complexing ligand on catalyst surface and a precursor of oxysulfur radicals. The surface-bound and free SO 4 •− were found to be the dominating radicals responsible for organic degradation. The steady-state approximation of SO 4 •− were examined and the apparent reaction rate constant of SO 4 •− generation was 0.60 ± 0.07 M−1 s−1 at 0.25 g L−1 catalyst. The influencing factors and operating parameters, including catalyst dosage, sulfite/contaminant ratio, pH, temperature, anions and natural organic matter were investigated and optimized systematically. As conclusion, the as-prepared catalyst to efficient activation of sulfite can be proposed as a promising advanced oxidation process based on oxysulfur radicals for the treatment of wastewater. Image 1 • The silica-supported cobalt catalyst is synthesized via a complexation process. • CoASi shows an effective performance in sulfite activation for organic degradation. • Sulfite acts as a complexing ligand and a radical precursor in activation process. • Surface-bound and free sulfate radicals are responsible for dye degradation. • The optimal operating conditions are obtained for further application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]