Impact of carbon based nanomaterials on behavior selected hydrophobic organic compounds in aquatic systems

Abstract

<p>U prvom delu rada ispitana je adsorpcija četiri grupe organskih&nbsp;jedinjenja: (1) nitroaromatičnih (nitrobenzen), (2) nepolarno alifatičnih&nbsp;(heksan), (3)&nbsp; monoaromatičnih (benzen, toluen, 1,2,3- i 1,2,4-trihlorbenzen) i (4) policikličnih aromatičnih ugljovodonika, PAH&nbsp;(naftalen, fenantren, piren i fluoranten) na vi&scaron;eslojnim ugljeničnim&nbsp;nanocevima (od eng. multiwalled carbon nanotubes, MWCNTs). Cilj&nbsp;ovog dela rada bio je pronaći korelaciju između parametara adsorpcije i&nbsp;fizičko-hemijskih karakteristika organskih molekula, kao i parametara&nbsp;<br />adsorpcije i karakteristika adsorbenata. Na osnovu dobijenih korelacija&nbsp;predložiti mehanizam adsorpcije ispitivanih organskih molekula na&nbsp;MWCNT-u.</p><p>U cilju ispitivanja uticaja kiseoničnih funkcionalnih grupa na povr&scaron;ini&nbsp;MWCNT-a odabrane su tri vrste MWCNT-a: originalni, nemodifikovani&nbsp;MWCNT (OMWCNT) i dve vrste funkcionalno modifikovanog&nbsp;MWCNT-a koji su dobijeni tretiranjem sa kiselinom tokom 3 h&nbsp;(FMWCNT3h) i 6 h (FMWCNT6h). Sve adsorpcione izoterme opisane&nbsp;<br />su Freundlich-ovim modelom. Nelinearnost izotermi bila je u opsegu od&nbsp;0,418 do 0,897. Rezultati pokazuju da dobijeni afiniteti adsorpcije (za ravnotežnu koncentraciju 50% rastvorljivosti jedinjenja u vodi, K_d0,5 S_W) za PAH-ove rastu sa povećanjem specifične povr&scaron;ine (SP) adsorbenta. Veći afiniteti adsorpcije dobijeni su za velike molekule kao &scaron;to su PAH-ovi u poređenju sa malim molekulima (benzen, toluen i heksan) &scaron;to može biti posledica veće kontaktne povr&scaron;ine između većih molekula i povr&scaron;ine adsorbenta. Pozitivna korelacija između afiniteta adsorpcije i hidrofobnosti molekula ukazuje da hidrofobne interakcije dominantno kontroli&scaron;u adsorpciju ispitivanih organskih jedinjenja, osim u slučaju nitobenzena. Da bi se ispitao uticaj &pi;-&pi; interakcija,&nbsp; K_d za odabranu ravnotežnu koncentraciju su normalizovane sa hidrofobno&scaron;ću molekula pri čemu su dobijeni odgovarajući&nbsp; K_d/K_OW&nbsp;odnosi. Za sva ispitivana jedinjenja K_d/K_OW<font size="1">&nbsp;</font>odnosi na svim ispitivanim MWCNT rastu u sledećem nizu: nepolarni alifatični &lt; monoaromatični &lt; PAH-ovi &lt; nitrobenzen, &scaron;to ukazuje da &pi;-&pi; interakcije značajno pobolj&scaron;avaju adsorpciju aromatičnih jedinjenja na MWCNT-u. Snažne interakcije između MWCNT-a i nitrobenzena posledica su formiranja &pi;-&pi; elektron donorsko-akceptorskih (EDA) interakcija izemđu nitroaromatičnih molekula (elektron akceptori)i visoko polarizovane ugljenične povr&scaron;ine nanocevi (elektron donori). Na osnovu dobijenih rezultata može se uočiti da se pri adsorpciji ispitivanihorganskih molekula na MWCNT-u istovreme odigrava vi&scaron;e mehanizama.</p><p>U drugom delu rada ispitan je uticaj ugljeničnog nanomaterijala (od eng.&nbsp;carbon based nanomaterial, CNM) natransport odabranih organskih&nbsp;jedinjenja (1,2,3- i 1,2,4-trihlorbenzena, naftalena, fenantrena, pirena i&nbsp;fluorantena) kroz sediment Dunava. Cilj ovog dela rada bio je ispitati&nbsp;mehanizam transporta odabranih organskih jedinjenja u prisustvu i&nbsp;odsustvu CNM. C/C_0&nbsp;vrednosti, dobijene za vreme trajanja eksperimenta&nbsp;<br />(t=96 h), ispitivanog jedinjenja u eluatu kolone napunjene samo&nbsp;sedimentom rastu u sledećem nizu: fluoranten &lt; piren &lt; fenantren &lt;&nbsp;1,2,4-trihlorbenzen &lt; 1,2,3-trihlorbenzen &lt; naftalen. U cilju ispitivanja&nbsp;uticaja hidrofobnosti ispitivanih molekula na sorpciju u neravnotežnim&nbsp;uslovima, dobijene vrednosti C/C₀ ispitivanih molekula su korelirane sa&nbsp;hidrofobno&scaron;ću molekula. Uočena je negativna korelacija &scaron;to ukazuje da&nbsp;hidrofobniji molekuli pokazuju duže vreme zadržavanja na koloni, a time&nbsp;i veću neravnotežnu sorpcijutokom transporta.&nbsp;</p><p>U prisustvu FMWCNT3h u koloni kojaje napunjena sedimentom može&nbsp;se uočiti da su koncentracije ispitivanih jedinjenja u eluatu manje za 2-3&nbsp;puta. Pri datim uslovima procenat detektovane koncentracije ispitivanog&nbsp;jedinjenja u eluatu raste u sledećem nizu: fluoranten &lt; fenantren &lt; piren &lt; naftalen &lt; 1,2,4-trihlorbenzena &lt; 1,2,3-trihlorbenzen. Predloženi mehanizam je sledeći: na eksperimentalnoj pH (pH=6,5) karboksilne grupe na FMWCNT3h su negativno naelekrisane, s druge strane tačka nultog naelektrisanja sedimenta Dunav je 4, &scaron;to ukazuje da je ukupna povr&scaron;ina pri pH=6,5 negativno naelektrisana. Međutim, metalni oksidi i hidroksidi gvožđa, aluminijuma i nikla na povr&scaron;ini sedimenta uzrokuju pozitivno naelektrisane centre &scaron;to dovodi do depozicije FMWCNT3h kao posledica elektrostatičkog privlačenja. Pri transportu organskih jedinjenja kroz sediment Dunava u prisustvu FMWCNT3h dolazi do simultane sorpcije organskih jedinjenja na organskom ugljeniku sedimenta i do adsorpcije na FMWCNT3h. Kada se pH vrednost poveća smanjuje se pozitivno naelekrisanje metalnih&nbsp; oksida i hidroksida na povr&scaron;ini sedimenta &scaron;to dovodi do povećane mobilnosti FMWCNT3h, a time i organskih jedinjenja adsorbovanih na njima. Svi rezultati ukazuju da pH vrednost ima veoma značajnu ulogu i može povećati &nbsp;transport funkcionalizovanog MWCNT-a, a time i transport organskih molekula adsorbovanih na njima.</p>

<p>The first part of the thesis investigates the adsorption of four&nbsp;groups of organic compounds (OCs): (1) nitroaromatics (nitrobenzene),&nbsp;(2) nonpolar aliphatics (hexane), (3) monoaromatics (benzene, toluene,&nbsp;1,2,3- and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene) and (4) polycyclic aromatic&nbsp;hydrocarbons (PAHs, napthalene,&nbsp; phenanthrene, pyrene and&nbsp;fluoranthene) on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). This part of&nbsp;the work aimed to find a correlationbetween the adsorption parameters&nbsp;and physical-chemical properties of the organic molecules, as well as the&nbsp;parameters of adsorption and the characteristics of the adsorbents. On the&nbsp;basis of the obtained correlations the adsorption mechanism was&nbsp;proposed. In order to investigate the influence which oxygen containing&nbsp;functional groups exert on the adsorption process, three MWCNTs were&nbsp;used: the pristine (original, as-received) MWCNTs (OMWCNT) and two&nbsp;<br />MWCNTs functionally modified by acid treatment of OMWCNT over 3&nbsp;h and 6 h (FMWCNT3h, FMWCNT6h). All adsorption isotherms well&nbsp;fitted with the Freundlich model. The nonlinearity of the isotherms&nbsp;ranged from 0.418 to 0.897. The results show that K_d&nbsp;values for PAHs&nbsp;increased with increasing specific surface areas (SSAs). The adsorption&nbsp;affinities of the larger molecular size OCs (PAHs) were higher &nbsp;than those of the smaller size OCs (benzene, toluene and hexane) which is probably due to their large contact area with the surface of the adsorbent. Adsorption of OCs on MWCNTs was mainly controlled by hydrophobic interactions, except for the nitroaromatic compound, as shown by the increasing adsorption affinities with the compound&rsquo;s hydrophobicity. K_OW-normalized adsorption coefficients (K_d/K_OW) for all the investigated compounds on all the MWCNTs followed the order: nonpolar aliphatic &lt; monoaromatics &lt; PAHs &lt; nitroaromatic, implying that &pi;-&pi; interactions enhanced the adsorption of aromatics on the MWCNTs. It can be concluded that the strong adsorptiveinteractions between the MWCNTs and nitroaromatics was due to the &pi;-&pi; electron-donor&ndash;acceptor (EDA) interaction between nitroaromatic molecules (electron acceptors) and the highly polarisable graphene sheets(electron donors) of the carbon nanotubes. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that multiple mechanisms control the adsorption of organic compounds on MWCNTs.</p><p>In the second part, the influence of carbon based nanomaterials CNM on&nbsp;transport of selected organic compounds (1,2,3 - and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, naphthalene, phenanthrene, pyrene and fluoranthene)&nbsp;through sediment Danube was investigated. &nbsp;The aim of this part of the&nbsp;work was to investigate the transport mechanism of selected organic&nbsp;compounds in the presence and absence of CNM. The C/C_0&nbsp;values for the&nbsp;tested compounds in the eluate of the column filled with sediment only&nbsp;increased in the following order: fluoranthene &lt;pyrene &lt;phenanthrene&nbsp;&lt;1,2,4-trichlorobenzene &lt;1,2,3-trichlorobenzene &lt;naphthalene. In order&nbsp;to investigate the influence of&nbsp; hydrophobicity of the investigated&nbsp;compounds on the nonequilibrium sorption, the obtained C/C_0&nbsp;values (for&nbsp;the duration of the experiment, t = 96 h) for these molecules were&nbsp;correlated with the hydrophobicity of the molecules. There was a&nbsp;negative correlation, indicating that more hydrophobic molecules show&nbsp;long residence times in the column, and thus had higher non-equilibrium&nbsp;sorption during transport. In the presence of FMWCNT3h in the column&nbsp;filled with sediment, it can be observed that the concentrations of&nbsp;compounds in the column eluate decreased by factors of 2-3. C/C_0&nbsp;values&nbsp;for the investigated compounds in the eluate increased in the following&nbsp;order: fluoranthene &lt;phenanthrene &lt;pyrene &lt;naphthalene &lt;1,2,4-trichlorobenzene &lt;1,2,3-trichlorobenzene. The proposed mechanism is as&nbsp;follows: under the experimental pH (pH = 6.5), carboxyl groups are&nbsp;negatively charged on the surface of FMWCNT3h and the point of zero&nbsp;charge of the Danube sediment is 4, which indicates thatthe total surface of the Danube sediment at pH 6.5 isnegatively charged. However, metal oxides and hydroxides of iron, aluminum and nickel on the surface of the sediment cause a positively charged centre that leads to the deposition of FMWCNT3h as a result of electrostatic attraction. Transport of organic compounds through the Danube sediment in the presence FMWCNT3h leads to the simultaneous &nbsp;sorption oforganic compounds on the sediment organic carbon and the adsorption of &nbsp;FMWCNT3h. When the pH increased, the positive charge of metal oxides and hydroxides on the sediment surface decreased, which leads to increased FMWCNT3h mobility and thus the organic compounds adsorbed on them. All results indicate that the pH value plays animportant role and can increase the transport of functionally modified MWCNT&#39;s, and thus the transport of organic molecules adsorbed on them.&nbsp;</p>