Environmental application of monolithic carbonaceous aerogels for the removal of emerging pollutants

In this study, the performance of three commercial available monolithic carbonaceous aerogels (NQ30A, NQ60A and NQ80A) for the removal of different emerging pollutants, detected in water sources, was evaluated. More specifically, the removal of two pharmaceuticals (antipyrine and sulfamethoxazole) and an anti-fungal agent (methyl paraben), widely used in cosmetics, was studied. The NQ60A demonstrated the best adsorption characteristics and effectively adsorbed over 50 mg/g of the antipyrine and around 30 mg/g sulfamethoxazole and methyl paraben. The kinetic study of the adsorption process revealed that pseudo-first order kinetic model described very well the kinetic behaviour of the selected pollutants onto the NQ60A aerogel. After that, the regeneration of the loaded aerogel, with antipyrine alone and in presence of the other two contaminants, was evaluated. The regeneration was accomplished in two ways: (1) by using directly the loaded aerogels as cathode during the electro-Fenton treatment and (2) by its regeneration immersed in the bulk volume of electro-Fenton cell (boron doped diamond as anode and carbon felt as cathode). Both approaches can provide an effective removal of the pollutants inside the aerogel. In addition, the regenerated aerogel proved to maintain its adsorptive properties and can be successfully reused in successive cycles of adsorption-regeneration. On the basis of these promising results, it can be concluded that the proposed strategy based on aerogels adsorption and electro-Fenton regeneration is a suitable alternative for emerging pollutants removal from water streams.