The effect of precursor on the alumina ‎nanostructures synthesized by green method for ‎copper ions removal‏ ‏from industrial wastewater

Abstract

Copper is one of the very harmful metals for human’s life, may lead to headaches, depression and learning disabilities, which is a very vital issue. Moreover, this metal is not biodegradable and remains in nature for a long time. Metal oxide nanoparticles with high surface adsorption can be used as a suitable option for copper removal from factory effluents. In this paper, aluminum oxide nanoparticles are proposed, synthesized and investigated as nanoparticles with high adsorption. Also, the synthesis is based on two different precursors (aluminum chloride and aluminum nitrate) and the effect of precursor is investigated on the structural and optical properties of alumina nanoparticles. Studies show that alumina nanoparticles are formed with both precursors, and they are amorphous. However, the choice of precursor has a significant effect on the size of the nanoparticles and the optical properties of these alumina nanoparticles. In addition, the study of the effect of precursor selection on the copper cation removal at pH = 5.7 shows that alumina nanoparticles synthesized with aluminum nitrate have better copper removal efficiency than the sample synthesized with aluminum chloride precursor and the removal of copper contaminants (20 ppm) with this alumina nanoparticles reaches 91% in 180 minutes, which indicates the excellent performance of synthesized nanoparticles in copper removal.

Keywords

• alumina
• removal of metal contaminants
• green synthesis
• effect of precursor