• Ultrasound-assisted leaching (UAL) of various metals is detailedly discussed. • Detailed discussions on the enhanced leaching mechanisms of ultrasound are proposed. • The development of the novel UAL techniques in the future are put forward. • Quantum chemical modeling point on the UAL process and its challenges are proposed. • The main obstacles for the industrial applications of UAL are proposed.

Water resources are the basis for human survival and development. However, human beings face severe challenges of water pollution and freshwater shortage. With the critical advantages of low energy consumption, high efficiency, low cost, green and pollution-free, and renewable electrodes, capacitive deionization (CDI) has become an up-and-coming water treatment technology. After decades of development, the application of CDI has expanded from seawater desalination to many fields. However, the existing literature still needs a comprehensive overview of the multi-functional application of CDI technology in water treatment. Therefore, our work critically reviewed the latest research progress of CDI in water treatment to meet the technical requirements of various application fields. This paper first summarizes the various applications of CDI in water treatment, focusing on CDI’s representative research results in heavy metal removal, organic contaminants removal, water softening, phosphate and nitrate removal, and water disinfection. In addition, we also discussed the latest research progress of energy recovery and energy consumption assessment for the CDI process. Finally, this paper discusses the challenges and future opportunities facing CDI technology.

In order to improve the adsorption capability of solvent-impregnated resins (SIRs) for vanadium(IV) (V(IV)), the dual extractant (D2EHPA (Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid) and TBP (Tributyl phosphate)) impregnated resins (D-TIRs) were prepared by impregnating Amberlite^TM XAD-16HP macroporous resins with the mixed extractant that is composed by different molar ratios of D2EHPA to TBP. The effects of the ratio of D2EHPA to TBP on the performance of D-TIRs were investigated. The results show that the impregnation ratio of the D-TIRs decreases gradually with the increasing proportion of TBP in the mixed extractant. The sole-TBP impregnated resins (TIRs) have no adsorption capability for V(IV), indicating that the adsorption of V(IV) is attributed to D2EHPA. The adsorption capacity of D-TIRs for V(IV) attained the maximum when the ratio of D2EHPA to TBP is 7:3 at pH 1.8, and it can be improved by increasing the extractants concentration during the impregnation process. Adsorption isotherm indicates that the addition of TBP can increase the adsorption capacity of D-TIRs for V(IV) from 24.65 to 29.75 mg/g after 16 h reaction. Adsorption kinetics verifies that the addition of TBP can largely accelerate the adsorption equilibrium of V(IV) onto the D-TIRs and V(IV). Electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) analysis indicates that the addition of TBP to D2EHPA can make some dimeric D2EHPA change to monomers by breaking the hydrogen bonds of D2EHPA-dimers, leading to the result that the pseudo-second order kinetic for the adsorption of V(IV) onto the D2EHPA impregnated resins (DIRs) converts to the pseudo-first order kinetic for that onto the D-TIRs. Also, D-TIRs have better separation capability of V(IV) from Fe(II) and Al(III) in the vanadium leaching solution than DIRs.

Trialkylamine (N235)-tributyl phosphate (TBP) impregnated resins (N-TIRs) were prepared, so as to evaluate the effects of the addition of TBP on the preparation and adsorption performance of N235-impregnated resins (NIRs). The results show that TBP can obviously increase the impregnation ratio and shorten the impregnation equilibrium time of the N-TIRs when compared to that of the NIRs (57.73% versus 36.95% and 5 min versus 240 min). It is confirmed that TBP can interact with N235 during the impregnation process, which shorten the adsorption equilibrium time and increases the adsorption capacity of the N-TIRs for V(V) when compared to that of the NIRs (6 h versus 10 h and 50.95 mg·g⁻¹ versus 46.73 mg·g⁻¹). The kinetics fitting results demonstrate that the adsorption of V(V) onto N-TIRs and NIRs all conform to pseudo-second order kinetic model and chemical reaction is the rate-limiting step of the whole adsorption process. In the meanwhile, the reaction constant (K_s) implies that the chemical reaction rate of V(V) with the impregnated extractants in N-TIRs is faster than that in NIRs. The N-TIRs present higher stability and selectivity than NIRs. This study manifests that the addition of a secondary reagent may be a potential and novel technique on the preparation of SIRs and the enhancement of adsorption and separation for ions.