Abstract
In recent years, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been intensively studied as an effective adsorbent for the removal of pollutants from wastewater. One of the main problems for its use corresponds to the agglomeration of the CNTs due to the interactions between them, which prevents using their entire surface area. In this study, we test the effect of dispersion of oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the removal of heavy metals from acidic solutions. For this, polyurethane filters were dyed with a well-dispersed oxidized MWCNTs solution using chemical and mechanical dispersion methods. Filters were used in column experiments, and the sorption capacity increased more than six times (600%) compared to experiments with suspended MWCNTs. Further, kinetic experiments showed a faster saturation on MWCNTs in column experiments. These results contribute to a better understanding of the effect of dispersion on the use of CNTs as heavy metal ions adsorbent.
Highlights
IntroductionThere has been a growing concern about the effect of high concentrations of heavy metal (loids) in the environment
In the last decades, there has been a growing concern about the effect of high concentrations of heavy metal in the environment
For Cu, the sorption capacity was increased by around six times (600%) using treatment columns instead of suspended multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) for multimetallic waters
Summary
There has been a growing concern about the effect of high concentrations of heavy metal (loids) in the environment. Heavy metal (loids) can contaminate freshwaters with devastating effects on the aquatic ecosystems and can have a toxic effect on human health [1,2,3,4]. For this reason, the development of technologies for the removal of heavy metals (loids) from contaminated water has become an important challenge due to their persistence and recalcitrance in the environment. In the northern regions of Chile, mining activity uses more than 50% of the water of this zone and is responsible for the generation of wastewater characterized by a low pH and high concentrations of heavy metals [10,11,12]
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