Investigation of the performance of green nano Zero Valent Iron for the removal of emerging contaminants from water

Nano Zero Valent Iron (nZVI) is considered as a promising nanomaterial for the removal of a wide range of recalcitrant pollutants from contaminated water and soil. Due to its high reactivity, large surface area, its catalytic and reductive properties along with the ability to be produced at low cost using herbal extracts, technologies incorporating nZVI are recently receiving a lot of attention. This study focuses on the utilization of nZVI made of green tea extracts which is supported in a cationic exchange resin, to remove selected emerging contaminants, classified as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and endocrine disrupting chemicals from water. The effectiveness of the nZVI resin (R-nFe) and the effect of crucial parameters, as the contact time, initial pH, nZVI resin’s dose, and the pre-treatment of the nZVI resin with NaCl was evaluated through batch experiments. The effect of the resin was also investigated in the removal performance. Results indicate that most of the selected compounds can be removed efficiently in acidic pH values, and the pre-treatment of the nZVI resin with NaCl is optimal for achieving higher removal efficiencies. However, the adsorption capacity of the resin seems to play also an important role in the removal of some targeted compounds.