Electron Exchange Columns for Contaminated Water Treatment

Electron exchange columns are analogous to ion exchange columns. Recently it was shown that entrapment of a strong redox species inside the sol-gel silica matrices yields good reducing electron exchange columns.¹ The electron exchange columns are more advantageous as the entrapped species do not contaminate the products while performing the redox reactions. Such columns can be utilized for the treatment of polluted water. Halogenated compounds and bromate (BrO₃^-) constitute a major problem to the environment because of their carcinogenic nature and toxicity.^2,3 The halogenated acetic acids and bromate are some of the main contaminants which are widely distributed in the ground water and surface water therefore several approaches have been made in the past for the decontamination/treatment of water through metal complexes. In the present study electron exchange columns prepared through entrapment of polyoxometalates and zero-valent iron species in silica matrices were shown to degrade these toxic compounds into non-toxic products in aqueous solutions.

Reference:

1. Neelam, Y. Albo, D. Shamir, A. Burg, S. Palaniappan, G. Goobes, D. Meyerstein, Coord. Chem., 2016, 69, 1.
2. Sattari, C. L. Hill, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1993, 115, 4649.
3. Huang, NY Zao, PP. Lu, J. Environ. Sci., 2007, 28, 2264.

Acknowledgements: This study was supported in part by a grant from the Pazy foundation.