Treatment of shale gas produced water by magnetic CuFe2O4/TNTs hybrid heterogeneous catalyzed ozone: Efficiency and mechanisms

Magnetic spinel ferrite (CuFe2O4) has been applied to catalyze ozone for treating the practical shale gas produced water (PW) in our previous study. In this work, CuFe2O4/titanium nanotubes (TNTs) catalyst was successfully prepared by an impregnation-calcination method. Characterization results revealed that the crystal form of CuFe2O4 was bound to the surface of TNTs, the particle size is much smaller than the pure CuFe2O4 crystal particle, which could weaken the influence of the internal diffusion process on its catalytic efficiency. The experimental results showed that the removal ratio of CODCr in the CuFe2O4/TNTs/O3 system was approximately 14% higher than that of the CuFe2O4/O3 system. The dissolution of metal elements decreased to one-third that of the CuFe2O4/O3 system. The inhibition ratio of PW on the growth of E. coli K12 decreased 68% after the CuFe2O4/TNTs catalytic oxidation process. Experimental results of complete capture experiments illustrated that the yield of HO• of the CuFe2O4/TNTs/O3 system was 10–19% higher than that of the CuFe2O4/O3 system. The elemental valence analysis revealed that the transition of Cu(II)-Cu(III) and Fe(II)-Fe(III) coexisted in the catalytic system. Besides, the surface hydroxyl groups promoted the electron transfer process and enhanced the ozone adsorption affinity. The proposed catalytic mechanisms of the CuFe2O4/TNTs/O3 system were proposed via the above analysis. [Display omitted] •CuFe2O4/TNTs catalyst was prepared by an impregnation-calcination method.•The dissolution of metal elements decreased to one-third of the CuFe2O4/O3 system.•The yield of HO• in the CuFe2O4/TNTs/O3 was 19% higher than that in the CuFe2O4/O3.•The transition of Cu(II)-Cu(III) and Fe(II)-Fe(III) coexisted in the catalytic system.•The surface hydroxy group played an important role in the catalytic mechanisms.