Preparation of Al/Fe-PILC clay catalysts from concentrated precursors: enhanced hydrolysis of pillaring metals and intercalation

Significantly intensified preparation of Al/Fe-hydrolysed-pillaring solutions and solvent-free intercalation of bentonites yielding Al/Fe-PILCs highly active in catalytic wet peroxide oxidation.

Clay-catalyzed ozonation of endocrine-disrupting compounds in solvent-free media – to better understand soil catalytic capacity

An original approach never followed so far allowed correlating the basicity and hydrophilic character of clay catalysts with surface interaction with 17α-Ethinylestradiol (EE2) during ozonation in water.

Wet Peroxide Oxidation of Paracetamol Using Acid Activated and Fe/Co-Pillared Clay Catalysts Prepared from Natural Clays

Many pharmaceuticals have been recently identified at trace levels worldwide in the aquatic environment. Among them, the highly consumed paracetamol (PCM), an analgesic and antipyretic drug, is largely being accumulated in the aquatic environment due to inefficient removal by conventional sewage treatment plants. This work deals with the treatment of PCM, used as a model pharmaceutical contaminant of emerging concern, by catalytic wet peroxide oxidation using clay-based materials as catalysts. The catalysts were prepared from natural clays, extracted from four different deposits using acid-activated treatment, calcination, and pillarization with Fe and Co. Pillared clays show the highest catalytic activity owing to the presence of metals, allowing to remove completely the PCM after 6 h under the following operating conditions: CPCM = 100 mg L−1, CH2O2 = 472 mg L−1, Ccat = 2.5 g L−1, initial pH = 3.5 and T = 80 °C. The prepared materials presented high stability since leached iron was measured at the end of reaction and found to be lower than 0.1 mg L−1.