Abstract
Heavy metals in water have always remained a point of concern for the environmental scientists due to their non biodegradability and toxicity. Adsorption and membrane filtration are the most widely studied and applied processes for the treatment of water. Activated carbons have frequently been used for the removal of heavy metals from water by the process of adsorption. With the development of nanotechnology, nanomaterials are used as the adsorbents in water treatment and have proved effective for the removal of heavy and toxic metals from water. nanocarbon materials, nanometal particles and polymer supported nanoparticles are widely used. A new adsorbent comprising of graphite coated with nanonickel particles was prepared, characterized and used for the removal of heavy and toxic metals from water. nanomaterial was characterized using ICP-AES, FTIR, XRD, and SEM. It was used for the removal of cadmium and copper from water. Kinetics and thermodynamics of adsorption of cadmium and copper on both the materials was investigated and compared. Adsorption isotherm of Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich were also applied to the adsorption data for the adsorption and removal of cadmium and copper. Effect of pH was also studied and it was found that nanomaterial was very effective for the removal of Cd and Cu from acidic solutions. Effect of different acids at different concentration was studied and it was found that nanomaterial remained stable for adsorption while carbon alone deteriorated. Results indicate that developed nanomaterial is a very effective adsorbent for the removal of heavy and toxic metals from water and wastewater.
Highlights
Heavy metals have gained their importance as non-biodegradable pollutants and this significance is increasing due to various nutritional, environmental and ecological reasons [1]
Implying that nano nickel coated carbon can be used as an adsorbent for heavy metals removals even if the waste water is contaminated with strong acids
Three kinetic models have been applied to the sorption of Cd (II) and Cu (II) on nano nickel coated carbon
Summary
Heavy metals have gained their importance as non-biodegradable pollutants and this significance is increasing due to various nutritional, environmental and ecological reasons [1]. The cadmium, copper, arsenic, lead and nickel pose great risk to the environment and living beings [2]. Nano nickel coated carbon has been prepared by our previously reported method and characterized by using Xray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), inductively coupled plasma-Atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) [7]. Advanced Materials – XV which could adsorb copper and cadmium from the aquatic environment and will not be deteriorated under rigorous conditions of pH and acid content. Various parameters for the sorption of cadmium and copper over nano nickel coated carbon have been optimized, the data is applied on the adsorption isotherms to find out the adsorption energies for both metals and the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent.
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