Activating peroxymonosulfate using carbon from cyanobacteria as support for zero-valent iron

In the present study, the cyanobacterial char (ACC) prepared from Chaohu cyanobacteria was used as a nanoscale carrier for zero-valent iron (NZVI) to synthesize a highly efficient activation material designated as cyanobacterial char-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (NZVI@ACC), which was subsequently used for activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to degrade the orange II (OII) dye. The XRD and XPS results revealed that NZVI was anchored onto the ACC through coordination bonding, forming a stable structure. The SEM and TEM observations revealed that the NZVI was embedded in the sheet structure of the ACC. The NZVI@ACC had a larger specific surface area (42.249 m2/g) and also magnetism, due to which its components could be separated through an externally applied magnetic field. Using this NZVI@ACC/PMS system, the rate of degradation of OII (100 mg/L) reached 98.32% within 14 min. The OII degradation reaction using the NZVI@ACC/PMS system followed first-order kinetics. The activation energy of this degradation reaction was 17.34 kJ/(mol·K). Quenching and EPR experiments revealed that various free radicals (SO4·−, ·OH) were produced, with SO4·− playing the major role in the reaction. The theoretical calculations revealed that SO4·− attacked the 12 (N) of OII, thereby destroying and degrading both azo and hydrogenated azo structures of OII. The presence of halogen ions in the actual dye-containing wastewater samples inhibited the OII degradation by the NZVI@ACC system to different degrees, and the inhibition effect followed the order I−  > Br−  > Cl−.