A novel chitosan-urea encapsulated material for persulfate slow-release to degrade organic pollutants

A novel eco-friendly material (CS-U@PS) for persulfate slow-release to effectively degrade organic pollutants (methyl orange and pyrene) was synthesized using chitosan and urea as the encapsulated framework materials via an emulsion cross-linking method for the first time. The obtained CS-U@PS exhibits spherical shapes with a uniform size of approximately 2–3 µm according to the particle-size distribution and SEM image results. The slow-release mechanism was proposed through a kinetics model study and the Ritger–Peppas model fit well (r2 = 0.9699) to indicate that the slow-release process is non-Fickian diffusion. The influences of urea and PS dosages and oxidative conditions on methyl orange degradation were studied, and all the results suggested that urea played an important role in PS slow-release and can also catalyze the activation of PS by iron to further produce radicals and improve the removal efficiency of pollutants. A pyrene removal rate of 90.53% was achieved in aqueous solutions and an above 80% removal rate was obtained in weakly acidic or neutral soil environments by CS-U@PS activated by Fe2+ with citric acid as the chelating agent. Therefore, the fabricated slow-release oxidation materials exhibit application potential for the remediation of organic polluted groundwater and soil.