Continuous degradation of plasticizer bisphenol A by catalytic Cu(Fe Al )O @sediment ceramic membranes combined with peroxymonosulfate activation

The Cu(FexAl2-x)O4-embeded sediment ceramic membranes (CuFeAl@SCMs) were fabricated by the low-temperature sintering technology and further employed in a dead-end filtration device for continuous bisphenol A (BPA) degradation with peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation. Results showed that using river sediment as precursor decreased the fabrication temperature for ceramic membranes (900 °C). The Al-doping Cu(FexAl2-x)O4 spinel solid solution was the predominant product phase, and the membrane with 42 wt% spinel content (CuFeAl@SCM-42) exhibited the highest BPA degradation efficiency (98.3%). SO4∙- and ∙OH were identified as the involved and primary reactive oxygen species (ROS). The density functional theory (DFT) calculations illustrated the forming mechanisms of SO4∙- and ∙OH. Furthermore, the DFT results confirmed that Al doping could enhance the adsorption energy and the electron transfer rate between the spinel and PMS, which encouraged PMS activation for BPA degradation. The outstanding performance of BPA degradation was observed in different pH, PMS content, transmembrane pressure, anions, natural organic matter (NOM) and water matrices, which revealed the excellent practicability, stability and recyclability of the prepared CuFeAl@SCM-42 in complex water environment. Therefore, this study demonstrated the possibility of using dredged river sediment to fabricate the superior catalytic ceramic membranes for wastewater treatment under a low-temperature sintering scheme.