Fabrication of carbon-coated iron-based porous heterogeneous Fenton catalyst and enhanced degradation performance towards ciprofloxacin

[Display omitted] •Carbon-coated catalyst preparation yields active reducible Fe and Fe3O4 species.•Carbon-coated catalyst achieves a high degradation rate of ciprofloxacin.•Carbon-coated catalysts exhibit sustained excellent catalytic performance.•Carbon-coated catalysts achieve a degradation rate exceeding 95 % in fixed-bed. Fenton degradation is a reliable treatment technology for mitigating environmental pollution. In the development of heterogeneous Fenton catalysts, improving the catalytic reactivity and long-term stability is of great significance for sustained industrial applications. In this work, spherical-shaped porous alumina supports (γ-Al2O3) are prepared via polysulfone-assisted water column forming method. A simple impregnation method is utilized to prepare Fe2O3/γ-Al2O3 catalysts, aimed at improving the dispersibility of active Fe components to boost catalytic activity. To prevent the detachment of Fe and enhance the catalyst’s long-term stability, glucose is employed as a carbon source to carbonize and coat the catalyst surface. This treatment leads to the formation of active Fe2+ components through reduction and the final Fe-Fe3O4/γ-Al2O3@C catalysts. With the Fe-Fe3O4/γ-Al2O3@C-1 catalyst, the degradation of 10 ppm of ciprofloxacin antibiotic achieves a remarkable removal rate of 98.7 %. Notably, after 240 h of cyclic degradation, a high removal rate of 87.9 % is maintained, which is attributed to the protective properties of the carbon coating against the detachment of active iron components. This research highlights the potential of the developed catalyst for the effective and sustainable degradation of pollutants, particularly suitable for industrial applications.