4 - Adsorption and Ion Exchange

Abstract

This chapter deals with the phenomena of adsorption and ion exchange, and highlights their role in environmental protection. Activated carbon, silica gel, and alumina are the most popular adsorbent materials in industry due to the fact that they provide large surface areas per unit weight. Activated carbon is produced from coconut shell, wood, and bone, whereas silica gel is made of hydrated silicon dioxide. Alumina can be either mined or produced by precipitated aluminum oxide and hydroxide. There are a number of cases where carbon adsorption is preferably used in water treatment—if compounds are not compliant for biodegradation, if the molecule contains branched chairs, has a large molecular weight, and low polarity, and generally, in the case of removing organic and inorganic species, for concentrations lower than 5000 and 1000 mg/L, respectively. Besides the applications of water treatment, activated carbon is called into action for the removal of volatile organic compounds, such as solvents, toxic gases, and odors from gaseous waste streams. Ion exchange shares many characteristics with adsorption, such as mass transfer from the fluid to the solid phase; there are, however, some significant differences. In ion exchange, the ions removed from the liquid phase are replaced by ions from the solid phase. So, there actually occurs an exchange of ions and not only a removal in the latter process. This principle is the basis of use of ion exchange in removing the effects of pollution in air and water.