Coupled electrochemical transformation and filtration of water pollutants by cathodic-carbon nanotube membranes

This study aimed at evaluating the concomitant electrochemical reduction and separation of organic and inorganic model contaminants from water. A highly conductive (40,000 S/m) support free carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane was used as a cathode in a three-electrode electrochemical crossflow membrane filtration system. Diatrizoate (DTZ), a recalcitrant iodinated contrast media; resazurin (RZ), a redox indicator; and hexavalent chromium ion (Cr(VI)), a 'gold' standard for characterization of reducing systems, were tested as model contaminants. Voltages of -0.6 to -1.0 V were enough to remove between 90% and 95% of the three model contaminants tested. Removal of Cr(VI) proceeded by reduction to Cr(III) followed by adsorption onto the cathode, which could be efficiently regenerated (up to 95%) applying reversal (anodic) potential. Preliminary findings applying AC current (0.6-1.5 V, 10 Hz-1 kHz) suggest that it could be a feasible approach for detoxification with minimization of membrane clogging. Resazurin was immediately transformed into resorufin to near completion which was in turn further reduced to dihydroresorufin. The reductive transformation of DTZ resulted in almost complete deiodination, leading to the accumulation of 3,5-diacetamidobenzoic acid as the main end-product. Although other five secondary transformation products were detected, four of them were fully deiodinated. Concluding, the proposed electrochemical filtration cell equipped with a highly conductive CNT-cathodic membrane can be regarded as a potential technique for water decontamination and effective dehalogenation of organic compounds.