A major challenge in recycling of silicon powder from kerf loss slurry waste is the complete removal of metal particles. The traditional acid leaching method is costly and not green. In this paper, a novel approach to recover high-purity Si from the kerf loss slurry waste of solar grade silicon was investigated. The metal impurities were removed with superconducting high gradient magnetic separation technology. The effects of process parameters such as magnetic flux density, slurry density, and slurry flow velocity on the removal efficiency were investigated, and the parameters were optimized. In one lot of control experiments, the silicon content was increased from 90.91 to 95.83%, iron content reduced from 3.24 to 0.57%, and aluminum content from 2.44 to 1.51% under the optimum conditions of magnetic flux density of 4.0 T, slurry density of 20 g/L, and slurry flow velocity of 500 mL/min. The result indicates that the superconducting high gradient magnetic separation technology is a feasible purifying method, and the magnetic separation concentrate could be used as an intermediate product for high-purity Si powder.
A new method for bisphenol A (BPA) degradation in aqueous solution was developed. The characteristics of BPA degradation in a heterogeneous ultraviolet (UV)/Fenton reaction catalyzed by FeCo2O4/TiO2/graphite oxide (GO) were studied. The properties of the synthesized catalysts were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and vibrating sample magnetometry. FeCo2O4 and TiO2 were grown as spherical shape, rough surface, and relatively uniform on the surface of GO (FeCo2O4/TiO2/GO). Batch tests were conducted to evaluate the effects of the initial pH, FeCo2O4/TiO2/GO dosage, and H2O2 concentration on BPA degradation. In a system with 0.5 g L−1 of FeCo2O4/TiO2/GO and 10 mmol L−1 of H2O2, approximately 90 % of BPA (20 mg L−1) was degraded within 240 min of UV irradiation at pH 6.0. The reused FeCo2O4/TiO2/GO catalyst retained its activity after three cycles, which indicates that it is stable and reusable. The heterogeneous UV/Fenton reaction catalyzed by FeCo2O4/TiO2/GO is a promising advanced oxidation technology for treating wastewater that contains BPA.
