Synthetic Fe-rich nontronite as a novel activator of bisulfite for the efficient removal of tetracycline.

Abstract In this work, the iron-containing smectite nontronite (NNT) was artificially prepared by hydrothermal process and used as a heterogeneous catalyst to activate bisulfite (BS) for degradation of tetracycline (TC). Two NNT samples with different iron content (NNT1 and NNT2) were characterized by XRD, FTIR, XPS and SEM-EDS analysis. Under dark condition, the TC removal rates of NNT1/BS and NNT2/BS reached about 91.7% and 95.5% respectively at 60 min. Due to the heterogeneous catalysis of structural Fe(III), the NNT catalysts showed great catalytic activity and low iron leaching at the pH range 3.0–7.5. In addition, NNT particles were also stable and reusable in activating BS for TC removal. According to the EPR and radical quenching experiments, it could be proved that the precursor radical •SO3ˉ was first generated in NNT/BS system, then •SO4ˉ and •OH were the active species that played a role in TC degradation. The synthetic NNT clay is a promising Fe-based catalyst for treatment of TC wastewater thanks to its high activity, good stability and effective reusability.