Iranian Improves Industrial Wastewater Treatment

An Iranian researcher has improved the efficiency of eliminating toxic pollutants from industrial wastewater by using boron nitride nanocage.

Results of the research will lead to the production of high performance filters, which can be used in agricultural and pharmaceutical industries, Iran NanotechnologyInitiative Council reported.

In the past decade, boron nitride attracted the attention of many scientists due to its stability at high temperature, low dielectric coefficient, high thermal conductivity and resistance against oxidation.

Taking into consideration the properties and stability of nanostructures, boron nitride nanocage was recently investigated. It showed the highest stability from the energy viewpoint among the various formations of boron nitride.

In this research, the adsorption of toxic pyridine on boron nitride nanocage was investigated by using quantum theoretical methods. In order to study the performance of pyridine adsorption, parameters, including energy, electron structure and the adsorption of toxic pyridine on the desirable nanocage, were investigated by using density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

To this end, boron nitride nanocage was selected as the adsorbent and pyridine molecule was placed in various directions. Then, adsorption calculations were carried out on the nanocage.

According to Dr. Mohammad Taqi Bayee, a member of the Scientific Board of Islamic Azad University, the results showed boron nitride nanocages could be used as appropriate adsorbents to eliminate pyridine from environmental media.

As a result, filters can be made of boron nitride nanocage for the elimination of pyridine in all chemical industries that produce this toxic material.

Results of the research have been published in Superlattices and Microstructures, vol. 58, pp. 31-37. Iranian improves industrial wastewater treatment