Influence of magnetite stoichiometry on the binding of emerging organic contaminants

Wei Cheng (1, 2) , Remi Marsac (3) , Khalil Hanna (1, 2)

1 ENSCR - Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes
2 ISCR - Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes
3 GR - Géosciences Rennes

While the magnetite stoichiometry (i.e. Fe(II)/Fe(III) ratio) has been extensively studied for the reductive transformation of chlorinated or nitroaromatic compounds, no work exists examining the influence of stoichiometry of magnetite on its binding properties. This study, for the first time, demonstrates that the stoichiometry strongly affects the capacity of magnetite to bind not only quinolone antibiotics such as nalidixic acid (NA) and Flumequine (FLU), but also salicylic acid (SA), natural organic matter (humic acid, HA) and dissolved silicates. Fe(II)-amendment of non-stoichiometric magnetite (Fe(II)/Fe(III) = 0.40) led to similar sorbed amounts of NA, FLU, SA, silicates or HA as compared to the stoichiometric magnetite (i.e. Fe(II)/Fe(III) = 0.50). At any pH between 6 and 10, all magnetites exhibiting similar Fe(II)/Fe(III) ratio in the solid phase showed similar adsorption properties for NA or FLU. This enhancement in binding capability of magnetite for NA is still observed in presence of environmentally relevant ligands (e.g. 10 mg L-1 of HA or 100 µM of silicates). Using surface complexation modeling, it was shown that the NA-magnetite complexation constant does not vary with Fe(II)/Fe(III) between 0.24 and 0.40, but increases by 8 orders of magnitude when Fe(II)/Fe(III) increases from 0.40 to 0.50.

Domains: Other; Environmental Engineering

Wei Cheng, Remi Marsac, Khalil Hanna. Influence of magnetite stoichiometry on the binding of emerging organic contaminants. Environmental Science and Technology, 2018, 52 (2), pp.467-473. ⟨10.1021/acs.est.7b04849⟩. ⟨insu-01662350⟩