Efficient wastewater treatment from new green tech

Thanks to the Vortex Fluidic Device, an improved clean and green means of coating materials for efficient wastewater treatment processes is now possible. The adaptability and more comprehensive clean chemistry applications of the extraordinary Vortex Fluidic Device (VFD) - invented by Flinders University’s Professor Colin Raston – continue to achieve unexpected innovations.

Thanks to the Vortex Fluidic Device, an improved clean and green means of coating materials for efficient wastewater treatment processes is now possible. The adaptability and more comprehensive clean chemistry applications of the extraordinary Vortex Fluidic Device (VFD) – invented by Flinders University’s Professor Colin Raston – continue to achieve unexpected innovations.

Thanks to the Vortex Fluidic Device, an improved clean and green means of coating materials for efficient wastewater treatment processes is now possible.

The adaptability and broader clean chemistry applications of the extraordinary Vortex Fluidic Device (VFD) – invented by Flinders University’s Professor Colin Raston – continue to achieve unexpected innovations.

This time the VFD has been used to demonstrate the potential for water treatment with real-time detection of impurities.

Since 2013, Professor Raston has been working with his team to explore the possibilities of the VFD. It is capable of controlling chemical reactivity, materials processing and probing the structure of self-organised systems. Ultimately, the technology will enable rapid and now predictable modifications.

The VFD has shown its capability in synthesising esters, amides, ureas, imines, alpha-amino phosphates, beta-Keto esters, modified amino acids and the local anaesthetic, lidocaine.

Dr Xuan Luo, from Flinders University’s College of Science and Engineering, has led research into using the VFD to prepare composite materials and coat them for dye degradation/wastewater treatment.

“The VFD enables coating the material as one layer but also as segregated bands for multi-step reactions,” said Luo. “This set-up applies to multiple synthetic dyes, and we saw a dramatic increase in degradation efficiency while using the VFD.”

Current research focuses on more effective and robust coatings to be prepared on a flexible membrane. The membrane could be rolled up and inserted into VFD, then removed, rinsed and re-stored post-reaction.

Efficient wastewater treatment could be used in other areas

“The applications do not only apply to water treatment. It also has huge potential in health-related areas such as diagnostics,” said Luo.

The research – Magnetite Nanoparticle/Copper Phosphate Nanoflower Composites for Fenton-like Organic Dye Degradation (2022)  – has been published by ACS Applied Nano Materials.

The tested technique provided a fast and sustainable way to use three different VFD applications for material fabrication, reactor coating, and material “banding”. The materials were magnetically held against the surface of the VFD’s rapidly rotating tube. It enhances catalytic activity in degrading four different organic dyes under real-time monitoring. There was at least a fivefold increase in degradation efficiency compared to batch processing.

The VFD tube reactor was chemically modified to improve the platform performance further. It incorporated a thin layer of silica-activated carbon xerogel coating. The coating behaves synergistically with the composite nanoflowers. This coated tube is highly stable and reusable, dramatically increasing degradation efficiency by about 30-fold compared to batch processing.

Integrating an ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy-based probe allows real-time reaction monitoring and provides a direct tool to evaluate the coating layer post-reaction.

This study provides a rational design of hybrid materials and a modified VFD tube reactor for real-time organic dyes’ efficient degradation.

Fast and green material fabrication, coupled with significantly improved processing efficiency, is effective for water treatment. It has a broad range of further research opportunities from fundamental research to the applications industry, adds Professor Colin Raston.

“The research will lead to new forms of detection. It will be important in other applications, such as in membrane and coating technologies,” he said.

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