The use of raw shrimp shells in the adsorption of highly polluted waters with Co2+

Abstract

In this study, whether raw shrimp shell (Shr-S), which is included in the waste material category, can be used to remove cobalt (Co2+), which is among the heavy metals with a high toxicological risk level, from aqueous environments and the effect of this material on the treatment process were examined. To be able to understand the effect of Shr-S use as an adsorbent on Co2+ adsorption, the effects of pH levels (2.0–7.0), Shr-S dose (0.5–5.0 g), and contact time (5–120 min) were examined throughout the adsorption. At optimum conditions for Shr-S (dose: 1 g/L, pH: 5.26, time: 10 min), the Co2+ removal efficiency was found to be about 75 %. The surface structure of Shr-S was revealed by FTIR and SEM-EDX analyses. Equilibrium and speed control were determined using four different isotherm and kinetic models. It was found to be more appropriate for the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir, whose correlation coefficients (R2) were 0.9966 and 0.9567, and the maximum capacity was calculated as 7.692 mg/g. Results of this study revealed that in terms of removal of Co2+ from aqueous environments, Shr-S can be used as an effective adsorbent and its adsorption capacity is comparable to other adsorbents studied in the literature.