Abstract
The development of economical, low-maintenance, environmentally friendly and effective water filtration techniques can have far-reaching public health, social and economic benefits. In this research, a cost-effective La-modified granular ceramic material made of red art clay and recycled paper fiber was developed for the removal of two major anionic contaminants, As(V) (arsenate) and Cr(VI) (chromate). La modification temperature significantly impacted the resulting composition and properties of the adsorbents, and thus played a crucial role in the adsorbent performance. The La-modified ceramic materials were extensively characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area measurement, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), zeta potential measurements, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The characterization results suggested that surface coating by LaONO3-related compounds was critical for As(V) and Cr(VI) adsorption. At the modification temperature of 385 °C, the adsorption of As(V) and Cr(VI) reached maximum, which were 23 mg/g and 13 mg/g, respectively, under circumneutral conditions that are relevant to various aquatic systems. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm, the influence of pH, ionic strength and coexisting anions on As(V) and Cr(VI) adsorption were investigated to further understand both As(V) and Cr(VI) adsorption behavior. Findings from this research showed that La-modified ceramic material made of recycled paper waste represents a cost-effective adsorbent for anionic contaminant removal under environmentally relevant conditions.
Highlights
About 1.8 billion people, most of whom live in developing countries, do not have the access to safe drinking water[1] and the consumption of unsafe drinking water can lead to a wide variety of diseases
Since As(V) and Cr(VI) adsorption by the unmodified ceramic granules was negligible, our results showed that 1) La-modification may be primarily responsible for As(V) and Cr(VI) adsorption; and 2) maximum adsorption amounts were obtained at the thermal treatment temperature of 385 °C for the La modification step
A cost-effective and environmentally friendly granular adsorbent was prepared by porous ceramic material and modified by lanthanum for removal of two challenging anionic waterborne pollutants As(V) and Cr(VI)
Summary
About 1.8 billion people, most of whom live in developing countries, do not have the access to safe drinking water[1] and the consumption of unsafe drinking water can lead to a wide variety of diseases. Great efforts have been applied to the development of adsorbents from naturally abundant and/or reusable materials, because of their low cost, simplicity to use, and high efficiency[4,5,6,7,8]. Natural minerals such as zeolite usually carry negative surface charges and display high cation exchange capacity, and they have been widely used as an inexpensive and yet effective adsorbent for the removal of positively charged contaminants such as heavy metals (e.g., Cd2+, Pb2+) from water[8,9]. The material developed in this research can help supply safe drinking water within the developing countries because, in addition to the form of granular adsorbents, the porous ceramic can be fabricated as pot filter, disk and candle shapes, all of which can be used to build low-cost point-of-use (POU) water purification systems[17]
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