Dissolution, Adsorption, and Redox Reaction in Ternary Mixtures of Goethite, Aluminum Oxides, and Hydroquinone

Huichun Zhang, Kowsalya Devi Rasamani, Shifa Zhong, Saru Taujale, Laura R. Baratta, Zijie Yang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

To better understand the oxidative reactivity of iron oxides in the fate of contaminants in acidic environments, we examined the reactivity of goethite in binary mixtures with Al 2 O 3 by carrying out oxidation experiments of hydroquinone (HQ) in the presence of goethite and/or Al 2 O 3 at pH 3. Kinetic results revealed inhibiting effects of 0.2-20 g/L of three different types of Al 2 O 3 on the oxidative reactivity of goethite. Surprisingly, soluble Al ions of 0.18-18 mM had a negligible impact on the reactivity. It turned out that the Fe 3+ dissolved from goethite partly contributed to the observed HQ oxidation and the Al 2 O 3 adsorbed the Fe 3+ to lead to the slower HQ oxidation. The observed pseudo-first-order rate constants in HQ oxidation had a strong linear correlation with Fe 3+ concentration in various goethite and Al 2 O 3 mixtures. Separate experiments confirmed the reactivity of Fe 3+ toward HQ and the linear correlation between [Fe 3+ ] and HQ oxidation reactivity. Finally, sedimentation experiments showed negligible heteroaggregation between goethite and AluC-Al 2 O 3 or nAl 2 O 3 but intensive heteroaggregation between goethite and Alu 65-Al 2 O 3 , which explained the observed highest inhibition effect of Alu 65. Overall, oxide mixtures are very complex whose reactivity is determined by many factors such as oxide dissolution.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4371-4379
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry C
Volume123
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Feb 2019
Externally publishedYes

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