[Paper]
New publication. Upcycled materials for water treatment and emerging contaminant recovery: a preliminary study on waste-derived magnetic zeolites [C. Belviso, V. Bonadeo, M. Mancinelli, M. Abdolrahimi, A. Lascialfari, F. Brero, A. Martucci, G.D. Gatta, M.Parolini, D. Peddis, A. Lettino, F. Cavalcante, L. Gigli, F. Maraschi and M. Sturini, Royal Society of Chemistry. (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d5dt02472b
The data demonstrate that all zeolites synthesized from waste-derived raw materials are effective in removing OFL from polluted aqueous solutions. Moreover, the adsorbed antibiotic can be efficiently extracted and quantified using different assisted extraction techniques: ultrasound-assisted extraction (UsAE, ~50% recovery), conventional microwave-assisted extraction (MwAE, exceeding 80% recovery), and magnetic hyperthermia-assisted extraction (MhAE, ~60% recovery). These findings suggest that the investigated synthetic materials are promising candidates for the quantitative determination of OFL in polluted water. The practical applicability of these materials is further enhanced by their magnetic properties, due to the high content of magnetic nanoparticles, which facilitate rapid and easy separation of the sorbents from treated solutions. Moreover, all regenerated materials after UsAE, MwAE, and MhAE treatments show improved OFL removal efficiency (91–96%) compared to untreated samples, confirming their potential for reuse in water remediation. Finally, the investigated materials were found to be non-toxic to Daphnia magna at the concentrations applied in the removal experiments, supporting their environmental safety. Preliminary investigations on unconventional contaminants, such as endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), reveal a removal trend consistent with that observed for OFL. This suggests that the synthesized zeolites and associated extraction methods hold significant potential for the removal and recovery of a broad range of emerging contaminants from polluted waters.