Removal of arsenic from water using crumpled graphite oxide

Abstract

In this work, we fabricated crumpled graphite oxides (CGOs) from discharged electrodes of waste batteries by the cathodic plasma electrolysis process and applied it for arsenic (As) removal from water solutions. Several factors that affect the removal efficiency of As(III) were investigated, including pH, initial concentrations, and contact time. After 120 min of experiment [10 mg of CGO in 40 ml of 1 mg/l As(III) solution], the removal efficiency reached to as high as 98.6%. From the Langmuir isotherm model, the calculated maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) was found to be 47.39 mg/g. The results from this study showed that CGOs could be an effective adsorbent for As(III) removal from the water environment and acts as a promising adsorbent for other heavy metals from contaminated water.

Keywords

• adsorption
• arsenic
• graphite oxides
• plasma electrolysis