Choline chloride-glycerol (1:2 mol), a natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) is examined as a draw solution in forward osmosis (FO) for dewatering application. The NADES is easy to prepare, low in toxicity and environmentally benign. A polyamide thin film composite membrane was used. Characterization of the membrane confirmed porous membrane structure with good hydrophilicity and a low structural parameter (722 ㎛) suitable for FO application. A dilute solution of 20% (v/v) NADES was enough to generate moderate water flux (14.98 L m^-2h^-1) with relatively low reverse solute flux (0.125 g m^-2h^-1) with deionized water feed. Application in dewatering industrial wastewater feed showed reasonably good water flux (11.9 L m^-2h^-1) which could be maintained by controlling the external concentration polarization and fouling/scaling mitigation via simple periodic deionized water wash. In another application, clarified sugarcane juice could be successfully concentrated. Recovery of the draw solute was accomplished easily by chilling utilizing thermo responsive phase transition property of NADES. This study established that low concentration NADES can be a viable alternative as a draw solute for dewatering of wastewater and other heat sensitive applications along with a simple recovery process.

In the present study, we compared the adsorption capacity of Pb (II) from contaminated water of used cardboard (UC) and a commercial powdered activated carbon (PAC), the latter has been characterized by different techniques, namely X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), wavelength dispersion x-ray fluorescence (WDXRF), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and surface area B.E.T analyzer. The effect of various parameters, such as the pH, the contact time, the amount of adsorbent, and the temperature on the adsorption of Pb (II) on both materials was investigated. The Pb (II) adsorptions are perfectly described by a pseudo-second-order model, while the intraparticle diffusion is a decisive step after the first minutes of contact. The fit to the Langmuir and Redlich-Peterson models seems perfect for these adsorption reactions. (PAC) showed a greater affinity for Pb (II) compared to (UC) and the adsorption of Pb (II) ions is strongly pH-dependent, on the other hand, the increase in temperature doesn't have much influence on the two solids. This study showed that the capacity of (UC) to adsorb Pb (II) from an aqueous solution is greater than two-thirds of that of (PAC).

Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE), critical pollutants to human health and groundwater ecosystems, are managed by groundwater quality standards (GQS) in South Korea. However, there are no GQSs for their by-products, such as cis-dichloroethylene (DCE) and vinyl chloride (VC) produced through the dechlorination process of PCE and TCE. Therefore, in this study, we monitored PCE, TCE, cis-DCE, and VC in 111 national groundwater wells for three years (2016 to 2018) to evaluate their distributions, a biological dechlorination possibility, and human risk assessment. The detection frequency of them was 30.2% for PCE, 45.1% for TCE, 43.9% for cis-DCE and 13.4% for VC. The four chlorinated compounds were commonly detected in 21 out of 111 wells. In the results of statistical analysis with 21 wells data, DO and ORP also had a negative correlation with four organic chlorinated compounds, while EC and sulfate has a positive correlation with the compounds. This indicates that the 21 wells were relatively met with suitable environments for a biological dechlorination reaction compared to the other wells. Finally, cis-DCE had a non-carcinogenic risk of 10^-1 and the carcinogenic risk of VC was 10^-6 or higher. Through this study, the distribution status of the four chlorinated compounds in groundwater in South Korea and the necessity of preparing plans to manage cis-DCE and VC were confirmed.

With a small particle size, specific surface area and chemical nature, Pd/Cu-Fe nanocomposites can efficiently remove the organic compounds. In order to understand the applicability for in situ remediation of contaminated groundwater, the degradation of p-nitrophenol by Pd/Cu-Fe nanoparticles was investigated. The degradation results demonstrated that these nanoparticles could effectively degrade p-nitrophenol and near 90% of degradation efficiency was achieved by Pd/Cu-Fe nanocomposites for 120 min treatment. The efficiency of degradation increased significantly when the Pd content increased from 0.05 wt.% and 0.10 wt.% to 0.20 wt.%. Meanwhile, the removal percentage of p-nitrophenol increased from 75.4% and 81.7% to 89.2% within 120 min. Studies on the kinetics of p-nitrophenol that reacts with Pd/Cu-Fe nanocomposites implied that their behaviors followed the pseudo-first-order kinetics. Furthermore, the batch experiment data suggested that some factors, including Pd/Cu-Fe availability, temperature, pH, different ions (SO42-, PO43-, NO3-) and humic acid content in water, also have significant impacts on p-nitrophenol degradation efficiency. The recyclability of the material was evaluated. The results showed that the Pd/Cu-Fe nanoparticles have good recycle performance, and after three cycles, the removal rate of p-nitrophenol is still more than 83%.

Al₂O₃ positively charged nanofiltration composite membrane was successfully prepared with aluminate coupling agent (ACA) as modifier, sodium bisulfite (NaHSO₃) and potassium persulfate (K₂S₂O₈) as initiator and methacryloyloxyethyl trimethylammonium chloride (DMC) as crosslinking monomer. The surface of the membrane before grafting and after polymerization were characterized by SEM and FT-IR. Three factor and three-level orthogonal experiments were designed to explore the optimal conditions for membrane preparation, and the optimal group was successfully prepared. The filtration experiments of different salt solutions were carried out, and the retention molecular weight was determined by polyethylene glycol (PEG). The results showed that the polymerization temperature had the greatest effect on the rejection rate, followed by the reaction time, and the concentration of DMC had the least effect on the rejection rate. The rejection rates of CaCl₂, MgSO₄, NaCl and Na₂SO₄ in the optimal group were 83.8%, 81.3%, 28.1% and 23.6% (average value), respectively. The molecule weight cut-off of 90% (MWCO) of the optimal group was about 460, which belongs to nanofiltration membrane.