Acta Montanistica Slovaca (Nov 2005)
Adsorption of As and Zn on mechanically synthesized FeS
Abstract
The wastewater containing heavy metals posses one of the main problem for the environment. The research of the heavy metals removal is oriented on the application of natural materials as well as the waste from industry and agriculture. This work presents an attempt to modify the properties of sulphide minerals by a mechanochemical route in order to enhance their capacity for the heavy metal removal. Pyrrhotite Fe1-XS synthesized by the mechanochemical reaction of pyrite with elemental iron in the planetary mill and the eccentric mill has been tested for the Zn and a As removal from a model solution. The heavy metal ions adsorption from single metal aqueous solutions was investigated in batch adsorption – equilibrium experiments. The synthesizes pyrrhotite and mixture of pyrite with elemental iron were used in the adsorption of selected heavy metal ions, i.e. Zn(II) and As(III) from stock solutions containing different amounts of these ions (25-400mgL), pH and the sorbent concentration of 5gL. The sorption tests have proved a positive influence of the mechanochemically synthesized pyrrhotite on the rate and efficiency of the zinc removal. The sorption capacity was 75,5 mg Zn/g and 57 mg As/g of the sorbent. In case of the eccentric mill, the formation of pyrrhotite was very small.
