Laboratory Investigation of Nitrate Reduction In Water Using Fe/Cu Nano Particles

The aim of this study is laboratory investigation of nitrate reduction in water using Fe/Cu nano particles. In this regards, nano Fe0 (54±4 nm) and Fe/Cu particles (75±3 nm) was synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) photographs. The effects of coating load of nano-Fe0 by Cu (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 % Cu/Fe0 w/w) in nitrate reduction process and chemical reaction modeling of nitrate degradation were carried out in batch experiments. In addition, the effect of initial acidity of solvent (pH= 3, 4, and 5) were investigated on the rate of nitrate reduction in which the initial nitrate-N concentration of solution was 200 mg l-1. All experiments have been carried out in presence of different ions in water. Results indicated that applying only 5% w/w of Cu has higher efficiency in the long-term degradation of nitrate-N. Also, less initial pH of solvent results more removal rate of nitrate. Chemical reaction modeling indicated that process of nitrate-N reduction by bimetallic Fe/Cu nano particles didn’t follow by first order reaction model.