Iron-Borate Composite for Pollutant Removal
Official patent title
Nanocomposite for the immobilization or degradation of pollutants
Arabic title: مركب نانوي لتثبيت الملوثات أو تحللها
Invention
Invention
Problem
Water may contain inorganic contaminants that need immobilization and persistent organic pollutants that need degradation. Treatment materials must be active, separable, stable, and safe across realistic water chemistries.
Why it matters
A multifunctional material could combine adsorption or immobilization with light-assisted degradation, potentially simplifying treatment trains for mixed industrial or municipal contaminants.
Approach
The particulate composite contains carbon and magnesium-iron, calcium, and magnesium borate crystalline phases, is produced by chelation, polyol gel formation, drying, and calcination, and is claimed for contaminant immobilization or actinic-light-assisted degradation.
Who may benefit
Potential beneficiaries include water-treatment researchers, environmental-remediation companies, industrial-wastewater operators, photocatalyst developers, and advanced-inorganic-material suppliers.
Potential value
The patent defines a carbon-containing multiphase borate composite with a 55–65 nm crystallite range, mixed platy and acicular morphology, and two claimed pollutant-treatment modes.
Background
Background
Mixed wastewater can contain metal ions, inorganic species, dyes, pharmaceuticals, and other persistent organics. Immobilization reduces contaminant mobility, while photocatalytic or photochemical routes seek to transform organic molecules. A useful material must demonstrate capacity, reaction kinetics, selectivity, mineralization rather than partial transformation, and stability against leaching. Multiphase borates may offer complementary surface and redox properties, but phase identification and particle imaging alone do not establish treatment performance. The disclosure proposes an iron-containing borate composite for both modes.
Technology overview
Technology overview
XRD identifies carbon, orthorhombic MgFe(BO3)O and CaB2O4, and monoclinic Mg2B2O5. EDX defines atomic ranges for C, Ca, B, Fe, and Mg, while XRD gives a 55–65 nm volume-average crystallite size and microscopy describes acicular particles in a smooth platy matrix. Aqueous metal salts and boric acid are combined with a hydroxyalkyl-carboxylic chelator and polyol, dried at 150–300 °C, and calcined at 600–900 °C. Claims cover direct immobilization and irradiated organic degradation.
Potential applications
Potential applications
- Inorganic-contaminant immobilization research.
- Light-assisted organic-pollutant degradation.
- Industrial wastewater-treatment material screening.
- Multiphase borate catalyst development.
Evidence-supported advantages
Evidence-supported advantages
- Targets inorganic and organic pollutants.
- Combines several borate phases with carbon.
- Provides defined elemental and crystallite-size ranges.
- Uses a solution-gel preparation route.
- Claims operation with and without actinic irradiation.
Development stage
Development stage
Laboratory synthesis and XRD, EDX, and microscopy characterization are described, with claimed treatment methods; pollutant-specific capacity, kinetics, degradation products, leaching, and reuse were not established in the supplied evidence. The development stage was not independently verified.
Commercial opportunity
Commercial opportunity
The material could enter laboratory screening for mixed-pollutant treatment. A commercial case requires contaminant-specific capacity and kinetics, total-organic-carbon and by-product analysis, light-source energy demand, leaching and ecotoxicity, recovery and reuse, competing-ion and real-water tests, reactor or column scale-up, precursor and calcination cost, and regulatory waste classification.
Patent classifications
Patent classifications
WIPO IPC
- B01J20/04Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
- B01J20/30Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
CPC
- B01J20/04Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
- B01J20/3078Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
- B01J21/10Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
- B01J23/02Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
- B01J35/77Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
- B01J37/036Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
- B01J37/08Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
- C02F1/32Treatment of water, wastewater, sewage or sludge
- C02F1/725Treatment of water, wastewater, sewage or sludge
- B01J2235/15Chemical or physical processes, e.g. catalysis or colloid chemistry; their relevant apparatus
- C02F2101/30Treatment of water, wastewater, sewage or sludge
- C02F2305/10Treatment of water, wastewater, sewage or sludge
Inventors
Inventors
- First inventorEhab Abdelhamed Abdelrahman Ahmed
Keywords
Keywords
- pollutant immobilization
- photodegradation
- magnesium iron borate
- calcium borate
- water treatment
- nanocomposite
- actinic irradiation
Patent document and drawings
Patent document and drawings
The patent publication is mapped to this record. Patent drawings remain within that publication; no separately cleared public media package has been supplied.