In the last decade, adsorption has exhibited promising and effective outcomes as a treatment technique for wastewater contaminated with many types of pollutants such as heavy metals, dyes, pharmaceuticals, and bacteria. To achieve such effectiveness, a number of potential adsorbents have been synthesized and applied for water remediation and antimicrobial activities. Among these inorganic adsorbents (INAD), activated carbon, silica, metal oxide, metal nanoparticles, metal–organic fibers, and graphene oxide have been evaluated. In recent years, significant efforts have been made in the development of highly efficient adsorbent materials for gas and liquid phases. For gas capture and water decontamination, the most popular and known functionalization strategy is the chemical grafting of amine, due to its low cost, ecofriendliness, and effectiveness. In this context, various amines such as 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), diethanolamine (DEA), dendrimer-based polyamidoamine (PAMAM), branched polyethyleneimine (PEI), and others are employed for the surface modification of INADs to constitute a large panel of resource and low-cost materials usable as an alternative to conventional treatments aimed at removing organic and inorganic pollutants and pathogenic bacteria. Amine-grafted INAD has long been considered as a promising approach for the adsorption of both inorganic and organic pollutants. The goal of this review is to provide an overview of surface modifications through amine grafting and their adsorption behavior under diverse conditions. Amine grafting strategies are investigated in terms of the effects of the solvent, temperature, and the concentration precursor. The literature survey presented in this work provides evidence of the significant potential of amine-grafted INAD to remove not only various contaminants separately from polluted water, but also to remove pollutant mixtures and bacteria.

Developing green and functional adsorbents for the removal of inorganic pollutants from industrial wastewater is still a great challenge. Activated carbons (ACs) are promising eco-friendly materials for adsorption applications. This study reports on the preparation and functionalization of AC and its application for fluoride removal from water. Activated carbon was prepared from date stems, and the material was employed as a support for different modifications such as incorporation of Al(OH)₃, in situ dispersion of aluminum particles (Al⁰) and grafting of 3-(aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES). The resulting functional adsorbents were fully characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electronic microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and zeta potential analysis. The results evidenced successful surface modifications. All adsorbents had affinity for the removal of fluoride ions (F⁻). The highest F⁻ removal rate was up to 20 mg g⁻¹ for AC-Al(OH)₃. Removal of fluoride ions obeyed Langmuir isotherms and a second-order kinetic model, and reached 99% uptake. The AC-Al(OH)₃ adsorbent was successfully used to treat a groundwater solution contaminated by fluoride ions. These results open an interesting avenue for developing eco-friendly functionalized AC for adsorption applications.

This study reports on the synthesis, immobilization, and stabilization of iron (Fe) particles in activated carbon (AC) from date stem material for the heterogeneous Fenton-like removal of hazardous pollutants from water. AC-Fe was synthesized through a simple and sustainable chemical reaction using and resulting in an environmentally friendly material (AC-Fe). X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy-dispersive X-ray analyses (EDX) were used to characterize the synthesized samples. XRD, FTIR and XPS results showed the successful incorporation of iron particles onto AC. SEM images indicated smooth surfaces with clearly visible Fe particles. Compared to pure AC, AC-Fe showed higher degradation rates of toluidine blue O (TBO) dye. The effects of the initial pH and TBO and H₂O₂ concentrations on TBO degradation were investigated. The AC-Fe catalyst proved highly efficient in the Fenton-like degradation of TBO (50 ppm), with the removal of up to 99% in 3 min. This catalyst was used efficiently for up to four repeated cycles. The improved catalytic activity of AC-Fe was related to Fe particles for the generation of HO•. These results prove that date stems—a waste product from agriculture—are a suitable precursor for preparing an appropriate AC and catalyst and for eliminating dyes from an aqueous solution by a heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction. The above results open an interesting avenue for the development of functional green catalysts based on AC-Fe for pollution removal.

In the present research, the removal of pharmaceutical contaminants based on atenolol (AT) and propranolol (PR) using modified activated carbon (AC) in a liquid solution was studied. Two methods, adsorption and photodegradation, were used to eliminate AT and PR. First, AC was prepared from date stems and then modified via hydroxylation (AC-OH) and impregnated into titanium dioxide (AC-TiO₂) separately. The removal of AT and PR was investigated in terms of experimental parameters, such as pH, concentration, temperature, and the effectiveness of the processes. The results show that the removal of AT and PR reached 92% for the adsorption method, while 94% was registered for the photodegradation process. Likewise, in optimal experimental conditions, the adsorption of AT and PR over AC-OH showed good stability and recyclability, achieving five cycles without a visible decrease in the removal capacity. The results obtained in this work suggest that the low-cost and environmentally friendly synthesis of AC-OH is suitable to be considered for wastewater treatment at the industrial scale. Interestingly, the above results open a potential pathway to determine whether adsorption or photodegradation is more suitable for eliminating wastewater-related pharmaceutical pollutants. Accordingly, the experimental results recommend adsorption as a promising, durable, eco-friendly wastewater treatment method.

L’usage excessif des pesticides a entraîné de nombreux effets néfastes sur l’environnement et aussi sur la santé des populations. Il est donc important d’approfondir, nos connaissances sur leur comportement dans toutes les sphères de l’environnement et de mettre en place de nouvelles technologies de dépollution d’effluents chargé en pesticides avant leur rejet dans le milieu naturel. Le travail de cette thèse est situé dans ce contexte. Le premier volet de thèse a été consacré au traitement des solutions aqueuses chargées par deux fongicides (imazalil, thiabendazole), par le procédés d’oxydation électrochimiques directe, afin d’optimiser les différents paramètres expérimentaux de leur dégradation. Ces études confirment l’efficacité du procédé électrochimique dans le traitement des eaux polluées par les pesticides, avec un taux de minéralisation qui dépasse 80%. D’autre part, les résultats obtenus dans ce travail ont montré que la nature du matériel d’anode a une grande influence sur la performance du procédé d’oxydation. Dans la deuxième partie, nous avons étudié la réactivité atmosphérique en phase gazeuse des composés aromatiques hétérocycliques azotés. Ces espèces sont attendues lors de la dégradation des pesticides. Les études cinétiques de ces composés avec l’ozone et les radicaux OH, ont été effectuées dans une chambre de simulation atmosphérique à différentes températures. Les réactions d’ozonolyse de ces composés sont très lentes. Dans le cas de leur réaction avec les radicaux OH, les résultats obtenus montrent que la réactivité atmosphérique de ces composés dépend fortement de leur structure moléculaire. En effet, les composés hétérocycliques aromatiques à 5 atomes présentent une réactivité plus importante vis-à-vis les radicaux OH, par rapport aux composés hétérocycliques aromatiques à six atomes. Par ailleurs, ces études ont montrés que la présence des atomes d’azote dans le cycle aromatique a un effet désactivant sur la réactivité de ces composés avec les radicaux OH. Sur le plan spectroscopique, les spectres d’absorption UV-visibles des composés : 1,2,3 triazole, pyrazole, pyrazine, pyrimidine,et pyridazine, ont été déterminés en phase gazeuse et leurs constantes de photodissociation atmosphérique ont été estimées. Enfin, les données cinétiques et spectroscopiques obtenues ont permis de discuter les implications atmosphériques de ces composés en termes de durée de vie par rapport aux différents processus de dégradation atmosphérique