Carbon nanotubes functionalized with magnetic particles, have been attractive for researchers in different fields including environmental science and waste management [1]. In recent years, attention has focused on CNTs adsorption characteristics, due to their significant large surface area. CNTs have been widely used as adsorbents for a wide variety of organic compounds and inorganic compounds. Reports of the use of CNTs for pesticide removal are less common relative to other organic pollutants [2]. It has been proposed that using magnetic CNTs could reduce the cost of environmental remediation as MCNTs could be separated from a solution easily, using magnets, without the need for centrifugal separation or filters. Most of the existing methods for synthesizing MCNTs have been judged to be uneconomical, work intensive, complicated, inadequate, and environmentally unfriendly [3]. Most of the existing methods for synthesizing MCNTs have been judged to be uneconomical, work intensive, complicated, inadequate, and environmentally unfriendly [3]. We have developed a novel method for synthesizing magnetic carbon nanotubes to overcome these problems, and characterised them using XPS, XRD and Mossbauer spectroscopies. Given the widespread contamination of the environment by pesticides, we tested the ability of the MCNTs to remove organic pollutants from wastewater. Finally, we applied regeneration methods for the spent MCNTs to reduce the treatment cost and ease scaling up the system.

[1] D.H.K. Reddy, Y.-S. Yun, Spinel ferrite magnetic adsorbents: Alternative future materials for water purification?, Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 315 (2016) 90-111.

[2] O.G. Apul, T. Karanfil, Adsorption of synthetic organic contaminants by carbon nanotubes: A critical review, Water research, 68 (2015) 34-55.

[3] J. Ma, Z. Zhu, B. Chen, M. Yang, H. Zhou, C. Li, F. Yu, J. Chen, One-pot, large-scale synthesis of magnetic activated carbon nanotubes and their applications for arsenic removal, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 1 (2013) 4662-4666.

Mohamed Ateia is a PhD candidate at the Department of Civil Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. He received his master's degree in Civil Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology (2014) and his bachelor degree in Agricultural Engineering, Alexandria University, Egypt (2009). He worked as a mechanical engineer in Egypt for one year, followed by working as researcher for two years at King Saud University, SA. His research interests include solving water and wastewater problems. Through his research, he try to find solutions for the water shortage problems in the developing countries via biological and/or physio-chemical wastewater treatment methods. His current research activity focuses on applications of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for water/wastewater treatment and he does this research in a collaboration between Tokyo Institute of Technology and the University of Copenhagen. He got many awards acknowledging his research achievements such as MEXT scholarship (2012-2017), Best Presentation Award for Young Researchers, International Water Association (IWA) (2014) and First Place Prize at Honda Young-Engineers-Scientists (Y-E-S) (2015).