The rapid expansion of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries has resulted in the introduction of various sources of micropollutants into the environment, posing threats to drinking water quality and public health. Membrane separation technology offers a promising solution with low energy use, high-quality effluent, and operational simplicity. Here, we developed fluffy layered double hydroxides (LDH)/graphene oxide (GO) 2D membranes, specifically tannic acid-mediated LDH-GO/GO-TA composite membranes (LG/GT). The integration of GO nanosheets regulated the growth of LDH, enhancing electron transfer and adsorption-driven catalytic performance. This design enabled LDH-GO to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) and completely degraded Rhodamine B (RhB) within 10 min. The Gaussian calculation was combined with this finding, which could explain the catalytic self-cleaning in the separation process. The TA-mediated enhancement further increased the RhB rejection of LG/GT-7.5 to 99.23%. Additionally, the needle/sheet structure significantly improved permeance to 358.28 L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹, surpassing the L/GT-7.5 performance (e.g. 338.53 L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹), indicating superior pore formation and water mass transfer. The heterostructure between GO and LDH greatly improved cycling stability, with the membrane maintaining a permeance of 282.71 L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹ and a rejection of 97.97% despite 20 cycles. This work demonstrated the potential of fluffy layered LDH 2D membranes for enhanced wastewater treatment applications. These findings suggested significant potential for practical implementation in industrial wastewater treatment processes, offering a sustainable and efficient solution to water pollution challenges.

The use of biochar for organic pollutants adsorption has emerged as a key component in wastewater remediation research. In this study, biochar prepared from digestate was subjected to nitric acid functionalization to enhance its adsorption capacity for organic dye mixtures of methylene blue and methyl red in synthetic wastewater. Based on experimental evidence, modified biochar BC750_NM, with a micro-mesoporous structure and a specific surface area of ~454.15 m²/g had the best adsorption performance at optimum conditions. This adsorbent exhibited both selective and simultaneous dye adsorption upon pH control, mainly attributable to a multi-interaction process in the medium. Notably, the adsorption of both methylene blue and methyl red approached 90% under acidic pH, while methylene blue was preferentially adsorbed over methyl red at alkaline pH to attain an excellent adsorption rate of 100% for methylene blue. Our approach not only yields a valuable resource for mitigating water pollution but also offers a sustainable solution for digestate management, showcasing the potential for innovative techniques to produce synergistic environmental solutions.

Isomerization of glucose into fructose has always been an important step in the biorefining process. This study synthesized a novel Mg-decorated carbonaceous catalyst by molten salt method for the application of glucose isomerization. The morphology of carbon microspheres was formed with high specific surface area and pore volume. The effects of Mg loading, catalyst dosage, reaction temperature, and reaction time were investigated and optimized. The highest fructose yield of 34.58% and fructose selectivity of 81.17% were achieved by the catalyst named Mg_(100mg)/Carbon at hydrothermal temperature of 100 ℃ with reaction time of 1.5–2 h, showing the superiority of the catalyst. The results of recycling tests indicated Mg_(100mg)/Carbon has good recyclability and can restore its activity after a simple regeneration. And the possible mechanism of glucose isomerization by Mg_(100mg)/Carbon was indicated. This study provided a new method for overcoming the difficulty of high energy barrier required for glucose isomerization in the biorefining process.