Unlocking high-efficiency decontamination by building a novel heterogeneous catalytic reduction system of thiourea dioxide/biochar

Yuanren Jiang; Kecheng Zhu; Jiayi Hou; Qingyang Dai; Yuegen Li; Kai Li; Yongxi Deng; Lingyan Zhu; Hanzhong Jia

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.134471

Unlocking high-efficiency decontamination by building a novel heterogeneous catalytic reduction system of thiourea dioxide/biochar

J Hazard Mater. 2024 Apr 29:472:134471. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.134471. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Yuanren Jiang¹, Kecheng Zhu², Jiayi Hou¹, Qingyang Dai¹, Yuegen Li¹, Kai Li¹, Yongxi Deng¹, Lingyan Zhu³, Hanzhong Jia⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Low-carbon Green Agriculture in Northwestern China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, China.
² Key Laboratory of Low-carbon Green Agriculture in Northwestern China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, China. Electronic address: zhukc@nwafu.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Low-carbon Green Agriculture in Northwestern China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, China. Electronic address: jiahz@nwafu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38691994
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.134471

Abstract

Herein, we reported a new contaminant purification paradigm, which enabled highly efficient reductive denitration and dechlorination using a green, stable reducing agent thiourea dioxide (TDO) coupled with biochar (BC) over a wide pH range under anoxic conditions. Specifically, BC acted as both activators and electron shuttles for TDO decomposition to achieve complete anoxic degradation of p-nitrophenol (PNP), p-nitroaniline, 4-chlorophenol and 2,4-dichlorophenol within 2 h. During this process, multiple strongly reducing species (i.e., SO₂^2-, SO₂•^- and e^-/H•) were generated in BC/TDO systems, accounting for 13.3%, 9.7% and 75.5% of PNP removal, respectively. While electron transfer between TDO and H⁺ or contaminants mediated by BC led to H• generation and contaminant reduction. These processes depended on the electron-accepting capacity and electron-conducting domains of biochar. Significantly, the BC/TDO systems were highly efficient at a pH of 2.0-8.0, especially under acidic conditions, which performed robustly in common natural water constituents.

Keywords: Anoxic degradation; Electron accepting capacity; Quinone mediated activation; Strongly reducing species; Water treatment.