Removal of Barium, Cobalt, Strontium, and Zinc from Solution by Natural and Synthetic Allophane Adsorbents

Abstract

The capacity and mechanism of the adsorption of aqueous barium (Ba), cobalt (Co), strontium (Sr), and zinc (Zn) by Ecuadorian (NatAllo) and synthetic (SynAllo-1 and SynAllo-2) allophanes were studied as a function of contact time, pH, and metal ion concentration using kinetic and equilibrium experiments. The mineralogy, nano-structure, and chemical composition of the allophanes were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and specific surface area analyses. The evolution of adsorption fitted to a pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics, where equilibrium between aqueous metal ions and allophane was reached within <10 min. The metal ion removal efficiencies varied from 0.7 to 99.7% at pH 4.0 to 8.5. At equilibrium, the adsorption behavior is better described by the Langmuir model than by the Dubinin–Radushkevich model, yielding sorption capacities of 10.6, 17.2, and 38.6 mg/g for Ba 2 + , 12.4, 19.3, and 29.0 mg/g for HCoO 2 − ; 7.2, 15.9, and 34.4 mg/g for Sr 2 + ; and 20.9, 26.9, and 36.9 mg/g for Zn 2 + , by NatAllo, SynAllo-2, and SynAllo-1, respectively. The uptake mechanism is based on a physical adsorption process rather than chemical ion exchange. Allophane holds great potential to effectively remove aqueous metal ions over a wide pH range and could be used instead of other commercially available sorbent materials such as zeolites, montmorillonite, carbonates, and phosphates for special wastewater treatment applications.

Keywords

• allophane
• adsorption
• precipitation
• interface processes
• environment
• heavy metals
• nano-structure
• short-range order aluminosilicate
• wastewater treatment
• aqueous geochemistry