Use of iron oxide nanomaterials as adsorbents for wastewater treatment

Abstract

The dissemination of chemical components into the environment might provoke harm to human health, animal species and the ecosystem. In order to reduce the negative effects of those pollutants, physico-chemical treatment procedures, namely the adsorption technique has been implemented. This study seeks to synthesize manufactured nanomaterials throughout a co-precipitation process such as nanoparticles (Ferrihydrite (Fh)) and nanocomposite magnetic iron (magnetite / activated carbon) capable of adsorbing certain inorganic species (heavy metals) such as hexavalent chromium Cr (VI). The prepared supports were characterized by IRTF analysis. The influence of the various experimental parameters (the initial concentration and the contact time) have been studied. Various isothermal models have been applied, namely Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and BET. The study of those absorption isotherms has shown that Langmuir’s model describes better Cr (VI) adsorption. It has been also noticed that the adsorption process on the Fh follows a pseudo 2nd order kinetics for the hexavalent chromium. The experimental results have proved that equilibrium is reached after 15 minutes with a better yield of 99.511% and a maximum retention capacity of 40.9157 mg / g.