Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13738-019-01809-w

ORIGINAL PAPER

Synthesis and characterization of γ‑Fe2O3 encapsulated NaY

zeolites as solid adsorbent for degradation of ceftriaxone
through heterogeneous catalytic advanced oxidation processes
Afshin Takdastan2,3 · Hadi Sadeghi4 · Sina Dobaradaran5,6,7 · Lin Ma8 · Armin Sorooshian8 · Maryam Ravanbakhsh1,2 ·
Maryam Hazrati Niari1,2

Received: 12 April 2019 / Accepted: 1 November 2019

© Iranian Chemical Society 2019

Abstract
The degradation of ceftriaxone (CTX) by heterogeneous catalytic advanced oxidation processes has been explored using
γ-Fe2O3 NaY zeolites synthesized (γ-Fe2O3@NaY) in the laboratory through hydrothermal and chemical co-precipitation
methods. γ-Fe2O3@NaY zeolite was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
and X-ray diffractometer analyses. The effects of the initial concentration of CTX and catalyst, pH and hydrogen peroxide
­(H2O2) dose with the presence UV light on the degradation efficiency of CTX have been studied by conducting experiments
in a batch reactor at room temperature. Experimental results reveal that CTX can be efficiently removed after 90 min at pH
4.0, CTX 20 mg/L, catalyst 1.17 g/L, ­H2O2 30 mM and presence of UV light. A kinetic and isotherm model was developed
for investigation of the adsorption mechanism, and results show that model and data are in good agreement. The reusability
of γ-Fe2O3@NaY was high as it degrades CTX in the presence of UV light and ­H2O2 even after five consecutive cycles. Also,
due to having magnetic properties, this composite is easily separated from the solution by magnetism. This work indicates
that bench synthesized γ-Fe2O3 NaY zeolite is a heterogeneous recoverable catalyst that can efficiently remove CTX from
wastewater.
Graphic abstract

Oxidative- Degradation
UVC

H2O2 0OH

e-
+
h

γ-Fe2O3@NaY

Keywords Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) · Heterogeneous catalysis · γ-Fe2O3 NaY zeolite · Ceftriaxone removal

Introduction

* Maryam Hazrati Niari Wastewater contaminants arising from industrial and domes-
[email protected]; [email protected] tic activities cause environmental concerns when discharged
Extended author information available on the last page of the article to the environment. In past decades, wastewater treatment

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 Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society

processes have been improved to remove contaminants range of organic pollutants. Hydroxyl radicals are formed
through primary and secondary wastewater treatment pro- by processes and agents such as Fenton reagent, UV irra-
cesses. However, trace contaminants (e.g., pesticides, petro- diation, oxidation with hydrogen peroxide and ozonation
leum constituents, endocrine disruptors, antibiotics and [15, 16]. Klavarioti et al. [17] reviewed the degradation of
pharmaceutical products) present in wastewater effluent have pharmaceuticals from water and wastewater using AOPs,
adverse health effects on human and aquatic lives. Phar- and they found that 32% of AOPs tested for pharmaceutical
maceuticals are widely used to promote improved human compounds was focused on the application of heterogene-
health and to prevent diseases, in addition to also find uses ous catalysis. The advantages of heterogeneous catalysis are
for agricultural purposes and animal care. Antibiotics are a non-toxicity, high stability and a high potential for decom-
wide class of drugs that have applications to prevent bacte- posing organic pollutants [18, 19].
rial infection in humans, animals and plants [1, 2]. About Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) such as hematite
30–90% of the antibiotics do not decompose in the human (α-Fe2O3), maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) and magnetite ­(Fe3O4)
or animal body and ultimately enter the environment through are widely used for magnetization of particles [20]. MNPs
feces and urine as active compounds [3]. Therefore, the main increase the adsorption capacity, stability and reusability of
source of environmental antibiotics is the effluent of munici- composites. Also, the magnetic composite is easily sepa-
pal wastewater treatment plants, as well as effluent of phar- rated from aquatic environments by a magnet. MNPs need a
maceutical manufacturing plants [4]. suitable supporter of high-performance capability [21–23].
Pharmaceuticals are classified as bio-accumulative com- Zeolites can behave as an appropriate porous supporter.
pounds; therefore, they are known as hazardous chemicals They are comprised of porous aluminosilicate material with
[5, 6]. Ceftriaxone (CTX) is a powerful antibiotic that is a three-dimensional open structure that consists of ­SiO4 and
used to treat infections caused by gram-positive and gram- ­AlO4 tetrahedrons. Desirable adsorption ability, excellent
negative bacteria, including bone and joint infections, pneu- ion exchange, high surface area and regular mesoporous
monia, skin infections and urinary tract infections [7]. The (with a diameter of between 20 and 100 Å) are unique fea-
chemical formula of CTX is ­C18H18 ­N8O7S3 [8]. Its molecu- tures of zeolites [24–26]. Their efficiency depends on their
lar weight is 554.571 g/mol, and the chemical structure is structure, which can improve their absorption capacity. Zeo-
shown in Fig. 1. lite Y is crystalline and microporous, a pore diameter in its
Conventional treatment systems cannot eliminate drug typical framework being ~ 0.74 nm. The microporosity of
compounds. Nowadays, the focus has switched to develop this zeolite has a major role in its form selectivity. Zeolite
tertiary wastewater treatment technologies such as advanced Y is commercially available or can be synthesized [27–29].
oxidation processes (AOPs) and reverse osmosis (RO) that The objective of this study was to demonstrate a new
are more effective in removing wastewater contaminants and approach in CTX degradation using γ-Fe2O3@ NaY zeo-
environmentally benign. [9–13]. AOPs occur through the lite nanostructure as a recoverable magnetic composite in
reactions of contaminants with highly reactive radical spe- the presence of UV light and ­H2O2. For this reason, NaY
cies (i.e., hydroxyl radical, superoxide and singlet oxygen) nanozeolite was synthesized by a hydrothermal method.
and have been widely used for destruction of non-biodegrad- Subsequently, this nanozeolite was modified with γ-Fe2O3.
able and biodegradable compounds. The NaY nanozeolite and γ-Fe2O3@NaY were characterized
The most essential advantages of AOPs can be high effi- using SEM–EDX and XRD. The effect of basic parameters
ciency in biodegradation, an enhancement in the potential was investigated, including the pH of the solution, compos-
for the destruction of persistent organics and high minerali- ite dose, CTX initial concentration, H­ 2O2 dose and reaction
zation capability [14]. Due to the production of hydroxyl time. Furthermore, a possible mechanism for the degrada-
radicals (·OH), AOPs are capable of oxidizing a broad tion of CTX γ-Fe2O3@NaY/UV/H2O2 system is proposed.

Materials and methods

Na+ O
-
O
O O N
O Materials
N

HN-N N
N
The chemical reagents used contained water glass (28.0 wt%
S H
O S ­SiO2, Lanzhou Petro Chemical Co., Petro China Company
N S Ltd.), ­NaAlO2 (95 wt%, Beijing GuoHua Chemical Material
O NH2
Co.), NaOH (96 wt%, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany), HCl
(37 wt%, Merck company), FeCl3.6H2O (Merck company,
Fig. 1  Chemical structure of ceftriaxone Germany), FeCl2.4H2O (Merck company, Germany), ­H2O2

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(30%, Chengdu, China), Ethanol (96% wt%, Sigma-Aldrich), solution, 1 g of CTX powder was dissolved in 1000 mL of
­NH3 (32 wt%, Merck company), acetonitrile (99% wt%, deionized water.
Sigma-Aldrich) and ceftriaxone (Jalinous pharmaceutical The batch experiments were conducted at different exper-
company. Iran) and was used without additional purification. imental parameters such as pH of the solution, reaction time,
During the experiments, deionized water was used. CTX initial concentration (20–60 mg/L), ­H2O2 concentra-
tion (5–50 mM) and composite dose (0.34–1.17 g/L). The
Synthesis of NaY nanozeolite solution pH was adjusted to 2.0–10.0 using 1.0 Mol/L HCl
or NaOH solution. The mixture of CTX and composite
NaY nanozeolite was synthesized using the hydrothermal was continuously stirred for 120 min, and adsorption was
method. The aluminosilicate gel was prepared in the molar performed with time intervals 10, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min.
ratio of 1­ 0Na2O:1.0Al2O3:15SiO2:300H2O. The precursor During experiments, the composite was separated from the
was made by combining aluminum isopropoxide, sodium solution using the magnet and filtered by a 0.45-μm mem-
hydroxide, silicate solutions and deionized water. The beaker brane filter. The residual concentration of CTX in the aliquot
containing the gel was continuously stirred at room tem- was detected using high-performance liquid chromatogra-
perature for 24 h, and a completely uniform solution was phy (HPLC). During all experiments, the temperature was
obtained. The heat was the driving force of the crystalliza- 25 ± 1 °C. The experiments were conducted in triplicate.
tion process; thus, to have hydrothermal crystallization, the
homogeneous gel was stirred with a rotation rate of 250 rpm
Analytical method and performance indices
at 60° C for 4 days. Then, the solid product was washed with
deionized water and dried at 90° C for 8 h [30].
The concentration of CTX was measured by an HPLC
instrument (Eclipse plus C18 column; 3.5 lm, 4.6 × 100 mm)
Synthesis and characterization of γ‑Fe2O3@NaY equipped with a UV detector at a wavelength of 190 nm.
A mixture of acetonitrile and phosphate buffer (pH = 4.8)
In this study, both γ-Fe2O3@NaY and ­MNPs were synthe-
was used as the mobile phase that was injected at 1 mL/min
sized using a chemical co-precipitation method. To syn-
[34]. The CTX removal efficiency was calculated according
thesize MNPs in an aqueous solution of 150 mL, 2.02 g
to Eq. [1]:
­FeCl3·6H2O and 0.75 g F ­ eCl2·4H2O were mixed and soni-
cated at 70° C for 20 min. This mixture was stirred at 80 °C CTX0 − CTXt
CTX removal efficiency (%) = × 100 (1)
for 1 h. Afterward, 15 mL of NH3 solution was slowly added CTX0
to the upper mixture and its color changed from brown to
black. The produced material was washed with deionized where ­CTX0 and ­CTXt represent CTX concentration before
water followed by ethanol and then was dried in an oven at and after the reaction, respectively.
100 °C for 3 h [31]. Also, the γ-Fe2O3@NaY composite was
prepared using the above method. Also, before adding NH3
solution, 3 g of NaY nanozeolite was added to a ferrous/ Results and discussion
ferric solution.
The morphology of the catalyst surface was detected by Characterization of catalysts
scanning electron microscopy (SEM, Mira 3, Czech Repub-
lic). The chemical elements of the catalyst were also deter- SEM images of γ-Fe2O3@NaY and the NaY nanozeolite
mined using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX, are shown in Fig. 2 to reveal their surface morphology
Carl Zeiss, Germany) coupled with SEM. The crystalline characteristics. According to Fig. 2a, b, external surfaces
characteristics of composites were identified by X-ray dif- of the γ-Fe2O3@NaY composite are rougher than then NaY
fraction (XRD, Quantachrome, NOVA 2000) with Cu Kα nanozeolite, which can be due to the filling of composite
radiation (λ = 0.15406 nm) at 50 kV and 200 mA, and the 2θ pores with MNPs. Therefore, the non-uniform surfaces of
range was scanned between 4° and 80° [32, 33]. the synthesized composite can be attributed to the aggre-
gation of MNPs on NaY nanozeolite surfaces, indicating
Catalytic oxidation experiments methodology that composite synthesis has been successfully performed
and MNPs have been placed on the NaY nanozeolite sur-
In this study, catalytic oxidation experiments were carried faces. The analysis of γ-Fe2O3@NaY and NaY nanozeolite
out in a 250-mL glass reactor equipped with a mechanical elements was performed by the EDX technique (Fig. 3).
mixer (at an agitation speed of 200 rpm). To perform the According to Fig. 3a, the weight percent of the NaY nanoze-
oxidation reaction, a UV-C lamp (6 W PHILIPS) was placed olite elements was 55.39% oxygen, 27.72% silicon, 11.66%
along the reactor (a distance of 3 cm). To prepare the stoke aluminum and 5.23% sodium. Also, in the γ-Fe2O3@NaY

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Fig. 2  SEM images of γ-Fe2O3@NaY (a) and the NaY nanozeolite (b)

composite, the presence of both iron and oxygen elements removal efficiency was close at pH 2.0 and 4.0 (p value
indicates that they are the main elements of the magnetiza- 0.004), the pH value of 4.0 was chosen as the optimum pH.
tion process (Fig. 3b). As there was an absence of impurity Similar results have been reported in the literature that the
peaks in the EDX spectrum, the product was of high purity. efficiency of removing CTX and tetracycline (TC) increased
The XRD patterns of MNPs, the NaY nanozeolite and in more acidic conditions [2, 29]. It was well known that
γ-Fe2O3@NaY are presented in Fig. 4. In XRD patterns of the solubility of iron is high in low pH and ultimately CTX
the NaY nanozeolite, sharp diffraction peaks at 2θ values of decomposes by the action of the catalyst better [35–37].
33.07, 47.27 and 58.57 were observed, consistent with the
XRD pattern of the γ-Fe2O3@NaY composite. In XRD pat- The influence of γ‑Fe2O3@NaY dose
terns of MNPs, sharp peaks positioned at 2θ of 15.92, 20.62,
23.87, 27.28, 31.62 and 34.32 are obvious, aligning well The effect of different γ-Fe2O3@NaY doses (0.34–1.17 g/L)
with the pure maghemite according to the JCPDS (1-37- on the degradation of CTX was investigated in the presence
1309). The diffraction peaks of NaY nanozeolite and MNPs of UV light and H ­ 2O2. As shown in Fig. 5b, the efficiency
in the XRD patterns of γ-Fe2O3@NaY composite indicate of CTX degradation increased as a function of catalyst dose
that synthesis has been successfully performed. from 0.34 to 1.17 g/L. Based on the results, the percentage
of CTX removal increased from 83 to 99% by increasing
Effect of experimental factors the adsorbent dose from 0.34 to 1.17 g/L, respectively. By
increasing the amount of catalyst, excess active sites become
Effect of solution pH available, which consequently increases the adsorption of
pollutants [38, 39]. Thus, the γ-Fe2O3@NaY surface area
One of the main parameters affecting the catalyst proper- is enhanced with higher catalyst doses, meaning that the
ties and the ionization degree of pollutants is the pH of the efficiency of CTX removal increases.
solution. To remove CTX, the influence of solution pH was
studied by the γ-Fe2O3@NaY/UV/H2O2 system at a cata- The influence of initial concentration
lyst dose of 0.5 g/L, CTX initial concentration of 20 mg/L,
­H2O2 dose of 30 mM and pH range of 2.0–10.0 at differ- The influence of CTX initial concentration on the removal
ent contact times. According to Fig. 5a, the efficiency of efficiency by γ-Fe2O3@NaY/UV/H2O2 system was evalu-
CTX removal increased at highly acidic conditions with the ated in 20–60 mg/L range. According to Fig. 5c, by increas-
highest efficiency was achieved at pH = 2.0. Because CTX ing CTX initial concentration (from 20 to 60 mg/L), the

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Fig. 3  EDX spectra of a a

the NaY nanozeolite and b 10000 SiKα
γ-Fe2O3@NaY
9000
Elt W% A%
8000
O 55.39 67.77
7000

Intensity (Counts)
Na 5.23 4.45
O Kα
6000
Al 11.66 8.46
5000
AlKα Si 27.72 19.32
4000

3000

2000
NaKα
1000

0 keV
0 5 10

Energy (KeV)

b 4000
SiKα
Elt W% A%
3500
O 39.77 59.29
3000
Na 2.26 2.35
2500 ClK α
O Kα Al 5.65 4.99
Intensity (Counts)

2000
Si 16.78 14.25
1500 AlKα
Cl 16.06 10.80
FeLα
1000
Fe 19.48 8.32 FeKα

500 NaK α
ClK β
FeKβ
keV
0
0 5 10

Energy (KeV)

percentage of CTX removal was reduced from 99 to 71%,

2500
respectively. Therefore, the initial concentration of 20 mg/L
NaY nanozeolite
2000
was selected as the optimum amount. By increasing the ini-
MNPs tial concentration of adsorbate in the solution, the active
Intensity (a.u)

1500 adsorption sites are reduced, leading to less adsorption [40,

γ-Fe2O3@NaY
41].
1000
Effect of ­H2O2 dose
500

The effect of ­H2O2 concentration on the degradation of CTX

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 by γ-Fe2O3@NaY/UV/H2O2 system was investigated in the
2 theta (degree) 5–50 mM range. As shown in Fig. 5d, the percentage of
CTX removal increased from 81 to 99% by increasing the
Fig. 4  XRD patterns of the NaY nanozeolite, MNPs and the ­H2O2 concentration from 5 mM to 30 mM, respectively. By
γ-Fe2O3@NaY composite increasing the amount of H ­ 2O2 (from 5 to 30 mM), ·OH

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a
120

100 c
100
80
80
CTX Re (%)

CTX Re (%)
60
60
pH=2.0 20 mg/L
40 pH=4.0 30 mg/L
40
pH=6.0 40 mg/L
20
50 mg/L
pH=8.0 20
60 mg/L
pH=10.0
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Reaction time (min) Reaction time (min)

d 100
b
100
80
80
50 mM

CTX Re (%)
60
CTX Re (%)

60 0.34 g/L 5 mM
0.5 g/L 40 10 Mm
40
0.84 g/L 15 mM
20 1.17 g/L 20
30 mM

0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Reaction time (min) Reaction time (min)

Fig. 5  Characteristics of CTX removal using γ-Fe2O3@NaY/UV/ CTX initial concentration (pH 4.0, catalyst dose: 1.17 g/L), d ­H2O2
H2O2 system: a initial solution pH (catalyst dose: 0.5 g/L, initial con- dose (pH 4.0, C0: 20 mg/L, catalyst dose: 1.17 g/L)
centration (C0): 20 mg/L), b adsorbent dose (pH 4.0, C0: 20 mg/L), c

radicals enhance, which consequently increases the degrada- 100

tion efficiency. However, the degradation of CTX was not 80 69 88

further enhanced with higher ­H2O2 concentrations (from 30
CTX Re (%)

60
to 50 mM). This can be described that excess H ­ 2O2 amount 41
act as a scavenger of hydroxyl radicals to produce per 40

hydroxyl radicals ­(HO2·) with less oxidation ability (Eqs. 2, 20

19
11
3) [42].
0

H2 O2 +⋅ OH → H2 O + HO2⋅ (2)

HO2⋅ +⋅ OH → H2 O + O2 (3)

Removal of CTX by different processes

Fig. 6  Comparison of different processes for the degradation of CTX
Different processes for CTX removal were compared to
(pH, 4.0, catalyst dose = 0.5 g/L, C0: 20 mg/L, reaction time: 90 min)
identify the best removal system (Fig. 6). Experimental con-
ditions were the same for all systems. CTX removal efficien-
cies by UV, MNPs and the NaY nanozeolite were 19, 11 in hybrid systems that oxidizes organic compounds. The
and 41%, respectively. However, system efficiency increased adsorption efficiency of CTX by γ-Fe 2O3@NaY (69%)
when individual systems were simultaneously used. The rea- was the highest from MNPs and NaY nanozeolite, which
son is partly due to the formation of the hydroxyl radical can be due to the synergistic effects of MNPs and the NaY

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Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society

nanozeolite. Also, the efficiency of CTX removal in iron- The results showed that the model of pseudo-second-order
rich systems was higher than the non-iron systems, because (R2 = 0.999) and isotherm of Langmuir (R2 = 0.987) had
MNPs increase the area of the composite surface [43, 44]. better correlation than pseudo-first-order (R2 = 0.947) and
The modeling and behavior of CTX adsorption on isotherm of Freundlich (R2 = 0.983). These results were
γ-Fe2O3@NaY were evaluated by isotherm and kinetic stud- matched with studies of Azari et al. [34, 45].
ies. The rate of adsorption of CTX on adsorbent was rapidly As shown in Fig. 6, the percentage of CTX removal in
performed during the first 90 min, but then no consider- the γ-Fe2O3@NaY/UV/H2O2 system was greater than the
able variation was seen after that time. Therefore, the time other systems in this study. According to Fig. 7, free radicals
of 90 min in this experiment is selected as the equilibrium of OH were produced by decomposing hydrogen peroxide
time. The correlation coefficient of kinetic models and equi- during the UV irradiation (Eq. 4) [46–48].
librium isotherms of CTX adsorption is shown in Table 1.
H2 O2 + hv → 2⋅ OH (4)

Table 1  Constants of studied Models Nonlinear equation Linear equation Parameters Value
kinetic and isotherm models
for CTX removal through Kinetics
adsorption on γ-Fe2O3@NaY
Pseudo-first-order dqt/dt = K1(qe − qt) ln(qe − qt) = lnqe − k1t qe, cal 2.656
k1 0.236
R2 0.947
Pseudo-second-order dqt/dt = k2(q2 − qt)2 t/qt = t/qe + 1/k2q2e qe,cal 19.120
K2 0.582
R2 0.999
qe, exp 19.076
Equilibrium Adsorbent dose (g/L)
Isotherms 1.17
Langmuir qe = (qmKLCe)/(1 + KLCe) Ce/qe = Ce/qm + 1/KLqm KL 0.58
qm 39.5
R2 0.987
Freundlich qe = KF(Ce)1/n lnqe = lnKF + n−1lnCe n 2.62
KF = qm/C1/n
0 qm 46.9
R2 0.983

H2O2 0OH e- H2 O2
H2O 0OH

e-
0OH

e- e-
CB
Ze/NaY
Fe2O3

Oxidative- Degradation
h+ h+
VB
UVC

0OH H2 O Oxidative- Degradation

UVC

Oxidative- Degradation H2O2 0OH

+
e- h

Fig. 7  Proposed reaction schemes for degradation of CTX by γ-Fe2O3@NaY/UV/H2O2 system

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100 Conclusions
99
80 94 91 88
81 In this study, a γ-Fe 2O 3@NaY composite was synthe-
CTX Re (%)

60 sized via chemical co-precipitation and its supporter

40
(NaY nanozeolite) was prepared through a hydrother-
mal method. Characterization techniques indicated that
20 γ-Fe2O3@NaY was successfully synthesized and MNPs
0
were placed on its surface. Based on the results of this
1 2 3 4 5 study, the experimental parameters significantly influenced
Cycle the degradation rate of CTX. The highest removal percent-
age was found in acidic conditions. The equilibrium time
Fig. 8  Reusability of γ-Fe2O3@NaY composite under UV light (ini- was 90 min, and the experimental data were best fitted
tial pH 4.0, composite dose: 1.17 g/L, C0: 20 mg/L, reaction time: with models of pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir
90 min)
isotherm. Upon comparing many systems for improving
the decomposition efficiency of CTX, the highest decom-
Also, iron produces under the UV ­h + and ­e −, which position efficiency was obtained with the γ-Fe2O3@NaY/
reacts with water and hydrogen peroxide and forms radi- UV/H2O2 system under optimum experimental conditions.
cals ·OH (Eqs. 5–7). According to Eq. 8, these radicals The γ-Fe2O3@NaY composite had high reusability in the
oxidize and decompose CTX [49, 50]. presence of UV light and ­H2O2 even after five consecu-
tive cycles. In conclusion, the catalytic activity of the
Fe2 O3 + hv → h+ + e− (5)
γ-Fe2O3@NaY/UV/H2O2 system can be used to decom-
h+ + H2 O →⋅ OH + H+ (6) pose CTX from aqueous solutions.

H2 O2 + e− →⋅ OH + OH− (7) Acknowledgements This paper was financially supported by the Envi-
ronmental Technologies Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur Univer-
sity of Medical Sciences (Grant No. 98s48).
OH + CTX → Oxidative − Degradation (8)
⋅

The recycling research of γ‑Fe2O3@NaY composite

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2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid by peroxymonosulfate/magnetic

Affiliations

Afshin Takdastan2,3 · Hadi Sadeghi4 · Sina Dobaradaran5,6,7 · Lin Ma8 · Armin Sorooshian8 · Maryam Ravanbakhsh1,2 ·
Maryam Hazrati Niari1,2

1 5
Student Research Committee, Ahvaz Jundishapur University Systems Environmental Health and Energy Research Center,
of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran The Persian Gulf Biomedical Sciences Research Institute,
2 Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran
Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School
6
of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty
Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran of Health, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr,
3 Iran
Environmental Technologies Research Center, Ahvaz
7
Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran The Persian Gulf Marine Biotechnology Research Center,
4 The Persian Gulf Biomedical Sciences Research Institute,
Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School
Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran
of Health, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil,
8
Iran Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,
The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

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