New insights on antimony removal and recovery from water and wastewater using iron-coated cork granulates: Desorption on batch and fixed-bed column systems

Abstract

This work investigated Sb adsorption–desorption using iron-coated cork granulates (ICG) in both batch and continuous modes to evaluate the materiaĺs adsorption and regeneration performance, as well as the possibility of antimony recovery. A fixed-bed column filled with ICG, demonstrated maximum adsorption capacities of 13 ± 2 mg g−1 and 10 ± 1 mg g−1 for Sb(III) and Sb(V), respectively, at pH 3. ICG was able to remove Sb within the WHO guideline of 20 μg/L at pH 6. Among the different classes of eluents tested for Sb(V) desorption, the acids achieved the highest desorption rates − 81 ± 9 % and 66 ± 8 % for HCl 1 M and ascorbic acid 0.1 M, respectively. The desorption kinetics showed that HCl 1 M reached equilibrium in 4 h, but ascorbic acid 0.1 M took 16 h. This work presents an ecological emerging solution for antimony removal and recovery from water and wastewater.