Yongjun Zhang

Verified

Yongjun verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

Verified

Yongjun verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

• Dr.-Ing.
• Professor at Nanjing Tech University

A tertiary treatment step is required in current wastewater treatment plants to remove trace pollutants and thus to prevent their extensive occurrence in the aquatic environment. In this study, natural MnOx ore and natural zeolite were separately used to pack two lab-scale aerated biofilters, which were operated in approximately 1.5 years for the r...

In this study, the degradation of ofloxacin (OFX)over Cu–Ce tyre carbon catalysts by the microwave assisted persulfate process was examined for the first time. The results showed that the Cu–Ce tyre carbon catalysts dramatically improved OFX decay efficiency. The optimal reaction conditions were the Cu–Ce tyre carbon catalysts of 2.0 g/L and the pe...

Metal oxides, as a popular ozonation catalyst, are usually synthesized with physiochemical protocols involving hazardous materials and extreme conditions. In this study, a biological method was studied with manganese oxidizing bacteria Pseudomonas sp. to synthesize multi-metal oxides consisting of iron, manganese, and cobalt (Bio-FeMnCoOx) to catal...

Controlling the contamination of water cycles with organic micropollutants (OMPs) has been targeted in many regions. Adsorption with activated carbon is an effective technology to remove OMPs from different water matrices. To efficiently design or operate the adsorption process, the adsorption of OMPs should be properly assessed, usually with time-...

Nebivolol (NEB), a β-blocker frequently used to treat cardiovascular diseases, has been widely detected in aquatic environments, and can be degraded under exposure to UV radiation, leading to the formation of certain transformation products (UV-TPs). Thus, the toxic effects of NEB and its UV-TPs on aquatic organisms are of great importance for the...

Rapid advances in industries and agricultural practices have recently released various toxic pollutants into aquatic systems. Among other pollutants, pharmaceuticals, have been detected in environmental aquatic systems at levels that have negative health impacts on both humans and animals. This study employed an in situ chemical co-precipitation me...

With the aid of radical and non-radical reactive species (RS), advanced oxidation processes can efficiently degrade emerging organic contaminants including antibiotics but may generate toxic transformation products (TPs). However, the detoxification capacity of popular RS has not been well elucidated. This study compared the detoxification of enrof...

E-peroxone process is an emerging electrochemical oxidation process, based on ozone and the in-situ cathodic generation of H2O2, but the stability of cathode is one of the key restraining factors. In this study, we designed a multilayer gas diffusion electrode (GDE) decorated with a commercial hydrophobic membrane for the degradation of pyridine. I...

Gabapentin (GBP), an antiepileptic drug to treat epilepsy and neuropathic pain, has become an emerging pollutant in aquatic environments. Previous results suggested that GBP can cause a potential toxicity on the heart development of zebrafish but its cardiovascular effects are still not clear. In the current study, zebrafish embryos were exposed to...

Natural manganese oxides (n-MnOx) widely exist in the nature and may contribute to the elimination of organic contaminants. The present study investigated the degradation of frequently detected fluoroquinolone antibiotic enrofloxacin (EFX) and the degradation kinetics were analyzed. During the reaction, the valence of Mn in n-MnOx changed with the...

Emerging organic pollutants s have always been the greatest environmental concern due to their ubiquity and distinguished adverse effects. These are mostly water-bone pollutants flagged as endocrine disruptors and can greatly inconvenience the ecosystem. Among others, β-blockers have also been detected in the environment at various concentrations t...

Recent studies have found the presence of surface-bound radicals (Surf-R) during the heterogeneously catalyzed peroxymonosulfate (PMS), especially when the catalyst carriers possess a high adsorption capacity. However, the effects of Surf-R on the toxicity of transformation products (TPs) are still not well elucidated. In this study, Co and Mn were...

Numerous pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) co-exist with various types of microplastics (MPs) in the environment, making it extremely hard to experimentally measure all their adsorption interactions. Thus, a precise prediction model is on demand. In this study, we combined the commonly used Dubinin-Astakhov (DA) model and the linea...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been widely found in water bodies and may generate negative impacts on the ecosystem. Eectrocoagulation (EC) with a zinc anode is an effective technology to remove PFASs but the dominating interaction forces between zinc flocs and PFASs are still not well elucidated. In this study, we used hexafluoro...

Contamination of water bodies by emerging pollutants such as β‐blockers has been a global concern over the past few years. This is due to the bioaccumulative character of β‐blockers in the aquatic systems, and their excessive usage might cause adverse effects on both humans and aquatic biota. A reusable and recyclable magnetic chromium‐based MIL‐10...

Ornidazole (ONZ), a nitroimidazole antibiotic detected in water bodies, may negatively impact the aquatic ecosystem. Its reaction kinetics during ozonation which is a feasible and applicable technology to control the contamination of emerging contaminants, however, has not been reported in literature. In this study, we measured the apparent second-...

The electrochemical production of H2O2 using small- and medium-size modular devices has emerged as an interesting approach for water treatment. In this work, waste tire-derived carbon (WTC) has been innovatively employed as a cheap and recycled electroactive material to manufacture a gas-diffusion cathode. It was found that acidification with HNO3...

Plastic pollution is a severe threat to the health of ecosystems, and recycling plastics is recognized as a key control strategy. This study used the one-step pyrolysis assisted with KOH activation to recycle the widely used polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic as activated carbon (PET-AC) which was subsequently applied to adsorb diclofenac (DC...

Anaerobic biological treatment of high-salinity wastewater has attracted much attention due to its environmental and economic benefits. However, the granulation can be significantly inhibited by a certain concentration of high salinity, which leads to the poor reactor performance and process stability. The presence of high salinity can also alter t...

Water of different qualities is used in a wide range of industrial processes. After usage, various substances enter the water streams, generating the industrial wastewater whose characteristics may include recalcitrant organics, high salinity, heavy metals, extreme pH, high turbidity, etc. Nowadays, water in industry tends to form a recycling loop,...

Water of different qualities is used in a wide range of industrial processes. After usage, various substances enter the water streams, generating the industrial wastewater whose characteristics may include recalcitrant organics, high salinity, heavy metals, extreme pH, high turbidity, etc. Nowadays, water in industry tends to form a recycling loop,...

Water of different qualities is used in a wide range of industrial processes. After usage, various substances enter the water streams, generating the industrial wastewater whose characteristics may include recalcitrant organics, high salinity, heavy metals, extreme pH, high turbidity, etc. Nowadays, water in industry tends to form a recycling loop,...

Polystyrene microplastics (PS MPs) and carbamazepine (CBZ) are frequently detected in freshwater ecosystems. However, the transgenerational effects of PS MPs and CBZ on the reproduction of aquatic organisms and the corresponding mechanisms are still unclear. In the present study, Daphnia magna was used to evaluate the reproductive toxicity in two c...

Thyroid disrupting chemicals (TDCs) have received much attention due to their potential adverse effects on animal and human health, which calls for rapid screen assays to identify them. The triiodothyronine (T3)-induced Xenopus metamorphosis assay (TiXMA) we developed previously has been successfully applied to the detection of the TDCs disrupting...

The co-occurrence of microplastics (MPs) and organic contaminants in aquatic environment can complexify their environmental fate via sorption interactions, especially when the properties of MPs can even vary due to the aging effect. Thus, quantitatively clarifying the sorption mechanisms is required to understand their environmental impacts. This s...

Polystyrene microplastics (PS MPs) and carbamazepine (CBZ) are frequently detected in freshwater ecosystems. However, the transgenerational effects of PS MPs and CBZ on the reproduction of aquatic organisms and the corresponding mechanisms are still unclear. In the present study, D. magna was used to evaluate the reproductive toxicity in two consec...

Nitrogen doping can enhance the catalytic activity of carbon materials for activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The structure of nitrogen may strongly influence the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, few studies have focused on the methods for measuring ROS concentrations, making it difficult to assess the role of nitrogen species...

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been successfully applied for the degradation of fluoroquinolones, but most studies ignored the removal of fluorine ions (F⁻) generated after the degradation, and the remaining F⁻ would cause secondary pollution to the water body. In this study, a novel UV radiation/hydrated Fe(III) oxide (HFO) coupling stra...

Ozonation is often applied to eliminate the recalcitrant contaminants. During the process, toxic transformation products (TPs) can be generated mainly via the reactions with ozone and hydroxyl radicals (•OH). However, the toxicity difference between the TPs generated from O3 and •OH has not been well elucidated. In this study, we designed ozonation...

The cathode is the key component in the electro-peroxone process (E-Peroxone), which is popularly constructed with carbon materials. This study developed an innovative method to fabricate a cathode with waste-tire carbon (WTC) whose performance was evaluated for the degradation of tinidazole (TNZ), an antibiotic frequently detected in water. It was...

Traditional treatment processes cannot completely remove phosphonates in circulating cooling water by one-step method. Herein, we designed peroxymonosulfate/UV irradiation/hydrated zirconium oxide (PMS/UV/HZO) coupling process to enhance the phosphonates removal. In particular, nitrilotris-methylenephosphonic acid (NTMP) removal efficiency by PMS/U...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), commonly used as flame retardants in a wide variety of consumer products, are emerging persistent pollutants and ubiquitously distributed in the environment. The lack of proper bacterial populations to detoxify these recalcitrant pollutants, in particular of higher brominated congeners, has confounded the att...

Metal oxides can effectively activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to degrade organic contaminants but are usually synthesized via chemical/physical processes involving extreme conditions and hazardous materials. In this study, an innovative bio-synthesis method with a strain of manganese oxidizing bacteria Pseudomonas sp. was developed to prepare multi...

The phosphate rock mineral is the main source of P-fertilizer production. It is estimated to become depleted in next century. Thus, the recovery of phosphorus from waste streams has attracted great interest. The cellulosic ethanol production is seen as more and more important in future. During the production of cellulosic ethanol, the phosphorus el...

Due to their unique characteristics, nanomaterials are widely used in many applications including water treatment. They are usually synthesized via physiochemical methods mostly involving toxic chemicals and extreme conditions. Recently, the biogenic metal nanoparticles (Bio-Me-NPs) with microbes have triggered extensive exploration. Besides their...

Plastic particles may bring potential threats to the ecosystem. Coagulation, as a widely used method to remove particles, has been rarely studied for plastic particles in the nanometer range. In this work, the coagulation removal of polystyrene nanoplastic particles (PSNPs, 50-1000 nm) was conducted in a model system containing coagulants aluminum...

Large quantities of microplastics (MPs) are discharged into the hydrosphere via the municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) as an important route. Herein, we sampled the influent, effluent and sludge of WWTP in order to investigate the abundance, size, type, and shape of MPs. The detected MPs were primarily in the shape of fiber with the abunda...

Cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) contaminations are disturbing environmental issues, which causes serious harm to aqueous systems and human health. Therefore, removing them from aqueous solution is essential to prevent its damage to the environment. Environmental adsorption research as one solution has seen a boom over the past decade. Using modified bio...

Gabapentin-lactam (GBP-L) is a transformation product (TP) of gabapentin (GBP), a widely used anti-epileptic pharmaceutical. Due to its high persistence, GBP-L has been frequently detected in the surface water. However, the effects of GBP-L on aquatic organisms have not been thoroughly investigated. In the present study, zebrafish (Danio rerio) emb...

Wide usage of plastic products leads to the global occurrence of microplastics (MPs) in the aquatic environment. Due to the small size, they can be bio-ingested, which may cause certain health effects. The present review starts with summarizing the main sources of various types of MPs and their occurrences in the aquatic environment, as well as the...

Sludge derived carbon (SC) has been widely used in advanced oxidation processes as an effective and economic catalyst. In this study, we applied surface modified SC for the first time to catalyze the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process with ciprofloxacin, a highly concerned emerging contaminant, as a model substance. H2SO4 was used to acidify the SC...

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics like ofloxacin (OFL) have been frequently detected in the aquatic environment. Recently manganese-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) have attracted research efforts on the degradation of recalcitrant pollutants with the aid of their biogenic manganese oxides (BioMnOx). Herein, the degradation of OFL with a strain of MOB (Pseudomon...

Various organic and inorganic pollutants co-exist in wastewater, including the highly concerned emerging organic pollutants like diclofenac (DCF) and the nutrient pollutants like phosphate. Simultaneous adsorption of them can be...

The cover image is based on the Research Article Single and combined effects of carbamazepine and copper on nervous and antioxidant systems of zebrafish (Danio rerio) by Dantong Jia et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/tox.22945.

Various pollutants co‐exist in the aquatic environment such as carbamazepine (CBZ) and copper (Cu), which can cause complex effects on inhabiting organisms. The toxic impacts of the single substance have been studied extensively. However, the studies about their combined adverse impacts are not enough. In the present study, zebrafish were exposed t...

A p‐type TiO2 with Ti vacancies (D‐TiO2) was synthesized by a facile solvothermal treatment, and Ag/TiO2 with different Ag loading amount was prepared through a photo‐reduction deposition method. The samples were characterized through scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and X‐ray photoelectron spectros...

Ofloxacin (OFL), a typical fluoroquinolone antibiotic, has been frequently detected in the aquatic environment and may cause potential ecological risks. In this work, biogenic Fe-Mn oxides (bio-FeMnOx) were produced by Pseudomonas sp. F2. The harvested bio-FeMnOx mainly consisted of γ-Fe2O3 and a mix valence of Mn2+, Mn3+ and Mn4+ and was applied f...

In this study, natural manganese oxides (MnO x ), an environmental material with high redox potential, were used as a promising low-cost oxidant to degrade the widely used dyestuff methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution. Although the surface area of MnO x was only 7.17 m2 g-1, it performed well in the degradation of MB with a removal percentage...

The intensive use of diclofenac (DCF), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, has led to its wide occurrence in the environment. The present study investigated the potential use of the fungal Scytalidium thermophilum laccase for DCF removal and detoxification. Firstly, the culture conditions for the maximum fungal laccase production were optimized...

Sulfamethazine (SMZ), a kind of sulfonamide antibiotics, can exist for a long periods of time and has been widely detected in the environment, which could pose a potential health threat to human beings. In this study, sludge-derived carbon (SC) catalyst was modified and applied to degrade SMZ during catalytic oxidation process. Degradation products...

The degradation behavior of oxytetracycline (OTC) in aqueous solution using sludge derived carbon (SC) was investigated in this paper. SC treated with different kinds of acids were characterized by BET and thermogravimetric analysis. The results showed that SC-H 2 SO 4 exhibited higher catalytic activity than SC-HCl and SC. The maximum removal of O...

In this study, heterogeneous Fenton-like degradation of ofloxacin (OFX) was investigated by sludge derived carbon (SC). The effects of SC catalyst, temperature and pH on the efficiency of ofloxacin degradation were investigated. SC treated with sulfuric acid (SC-H2SO4) performed high catalytic activity, indicating that sulfate group produced low pH...

Sludge-derived carbons (SCs) were modified by different acids and used as electrocatalyst for electrochemical oxidation degradation of acetophenone. The results showed that SC treated with phosphoric acid (H3PO4-SC) exhibited the highest catalytic activity. The degradation efficiency of acetophenone reached 87.0%, and TOC removal was 72.3% under th...

Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is a commonly used antibiotic for both human and animals. The frequent detection of SMX in natural water bodies and sediment has become an issue of great environmental concern due to its potential risk to induce antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria. In the present work, the catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) was...

Gabapentin (GAB) is an emerging contaminant that is frequently detected in water bodies across the globe. The present study used zebrafish as a model organism to investigate the effects of GAB on the early development of zebrafish and on its antioxidant system. Acute toxicity tests indicated that the 96 h LC50 value of GAB for zebrafish embryos was...

Emerging organic contaminants (EOCs), consisting of pharmaceuticals, industrial/household additives, and their transformation products, have been widely detected in surface water bodies and may lead to potential ecological risks. Installing a tertiary treatment step in sewage treatment plants (STP) is an effective method to control their contaminat...

Melanoidins are dark colored recalcitrant pollutants found in many industrial wastewaters including coffee manufacturing effluent, molasses distillery wastewater (MDWW), and other wastewater with molasses as raw material. The wastewaters are mostly treated with anaerobic digestion after some dilution to minimize the inhibition effect. However the d...

A FAU-type zeolite was studied as an adsorbent to remove 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP), a frequently detected recalcitrant pollutant in water bodies. Both adsorption isotherm and kinetics were studied with TCP concentrations from 10 to 100 mg/L. It was observed that TCP was effectively adsorbed onto the zeolite with a high adsorption capacity and a h...

Background: Diclofenac (DCF) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, which has been frequently detected in aquatic environment in the past few years. As reported, DCF definitely poses a risk on the ecosystems where it is present, despite its relatively limited acute ecotoxicity. Many technologies have been investigated to eliminate DCF from wate...

In recent years, pharmaceuticals are increasingly being detected in many waterways all over the world. As a frequently prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac has been ubiquitously detected in the influents and effluents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) at the μg/l level, and it also occurs at concentrations of the ng/l le...

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for selective adsorption of carbamazepine (CBZ) in aqueous solution was synthesized by precipitation polymerization using CBZ as a template molecule and methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer. The performance of the CBZ-MIP was evaluated in terms of selectivity, adsorption capacity, binding characterist...

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the most frequently detected pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) in water bodies. In this study, its concentrations in the STP effluents in 68 countries/regions are predicted with a model based on the sale volume, the water consumption, the disposal rate, the excretion rate, and the removal efficiency by the sewage...

Carbamazepine and diclofenac were frequently detected in water bodies. In this study, crude lignin peroxidase, produced from a white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium, was studied on its in vitro degradation of both drugs. The influencing parameters were studied, including pH, the hydrogen peroxide concentration, veratryl alcohol and the tempe...

A module was developed for the continuous monitoring of volatile halogen organic pollutants in complex matrices. The module utilized a polymer membrane for extraction and a capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for detection. The extraction of analytes (CHCl(3), CHCl(2)Br, CHClBr(2) and CHBr(3)) from samples was performed in a flow...

In the aquatic environment, pharmaceuticals have been widely found. Among them, carbamazepine and diclofenac were detected at the highest frequency. To evaluate the worldwide environmental impacts of both drugs, their global consumption volumes are estimated, based on the dose per capita. The metabolites of these pharmaceuticals are also of environ...