Editors: | F. Kongoli, F. Marquis, N. Chikhradze, T. Prikhna, O. Adiguzel, E. Aifantis, R. Das, P. Trovalusci |
Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
Publication Year: | 2023 |
Pages: | 288 pages |
ISBN: | 978-1-998384-00-6 (CD) |
ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
Smoking is harmful to human health [1], and among more than 2000 chemicals in tobacco leaf, tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNA) are strong carcinogens to cause gene mutations and cancers threatening public health. Among various methods to remove TSNA in source, one strategy is to trap TSNA from tobacco extract solution, controlling the TSNA pollution in the initial stage of cigarette and snus production [2, 3]. However, this tobacco solution includes hundreds of substances so it needs special sorbent with the high capability of trapping TSNA. Here, we choose discarded cigarette butts (DCB) as carbon precursor [4] because the trillions of DCB generated each year throughout the world. Unlike natural biomass like coconut shell with perfect three-dimensional network, cigarette filter consists of numerous paralleled manufactured hairlike diacetate fibre and forms microporous carbon in carbonization so that modification is necessary.
After a systemic investigation, a kind of hierarchical porous composite was fabricated via one-pot synthesis by means of cigarette filters and low-cost metal salts, and the optimal conditions had been determined. The type and amount of metal salt in the carbon precursor took charged of pore texture, electrical property and morphology, forming a new sorbent beyond activated carbon and zeolite in the selective liquid adsorption of TSNA. Moreover, the used cigarette butt was better than the fresh filter rod as the carbon source. With the 10%-16.5% of ferric oxide doped, new sorbent could capture the 29%-33% of TSNA in tobacco solution. Moreover, it exhibited a zeolite-like selectivity for 4-methylnitrosamino-1-3-pyridyl-1-butanone (NNK), which is beneficial for environment protection and recycling waste.
Alumina was also introduced in the carbon sorbent in recent research through one-pot synthesis to form an efficient TSNA-trapper with a huge capacity and high rate in the adsorption of NNK in aqueous solution. With a capacity of 50 mg g-1, it worked much better than zeolite NaZSM-5 and activated carbon did. Apart from anti-cancer and environment protection, these progresses offer a clue for preparation of new functional material and resource regeneration.