Abstract
In this paper the influence of in situ synthesized biocomposite consisted of Phragmites australis (common reed) and emeraldine base on the removal of copper ions from aqueous media is discussed. Physico-chemical parameters such as initial copper ion concentration, composite dosage and contact time between composites and Cu(II) ions in the water solution were studied. An assessment of the equilibrium and the kinetics of sorption of copper ions has been made. For preparation of the biocomposites two different ratios of common reed/aniline were used. The results show that in all cases were achieved high removal efficiencies. The copper ions removal efficiency increases up to an optimal dose (0.5 g) above which the removal efficiency does not significantly change. Using 0.5 g of Pha/Emb1 and initial copper ions concentration 50 mg L -1 for a period of 360 minutes 99.6 % removal efficiency was achieved, while using the same amount of Pha/Emb2 for the same period of time was obtained 91.9 % removal efficiency. The obtained data were fitted into the isotherms of Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Raduskevich. Applying the Dubinin–Radushkevich model to the experimental data, it was found that the removal of copper ions from the aqueous medium using the synthesized composites is probably due to physical adsorption and ion exchange process. It was found that the Cu(II) adsorption onto used biocomposites followed pseudo second-order kinetics and copper ions were adsorbed onto the Pha/Emb1 and Pha/Emb2 surfaces via chemical interaction.
Highlights
The industrial wastewaters in most cases contain metal ions which can be removed by chemical or physicochemical processes
The aim of this study was to examine the possibility of the copper ions removal from an aqueous solution by a biocomposite of Phragmites australis and emeraldine base
Pha/Emb[2], the numerical value of E is equal to 10.1 KJ mol-1, which is the indicator for ion exchange adsorption
Summary
The industrial wastewaters in most cases contain metal ions which can be removed by chemical or physicochemical processes. Increasing attention to the biosorbents such as rice hulls, raw pomegranate peel, peanut shells, sphagnum moss peat, tree fern, as well as dried activated sludge, is paid because they are widely spread, not expensive raw materials.[1,2,3,4,5,6] there are various polymeric substances which can capture various ions, as a result of the complexation reactions. Such materials are chitosan,[7,8] polythioamide,[9] polypyrrole,[10] polyaniline,[11] etc. These polymers can be used either separately or as composites - the combination of different polymers[12,13,15] or combination of the polymer with some adsorbents.[14,15,16]
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