آب و فاضلاب (Jan 2015)
Using Adsorption Isotherm Studies to Determine Crosslinked Polymeric Adsorbent Performance in Heavy Metals Removal from Water
Abstract
Polymeric adsorbents are useful tools for removing heavy metals from aqueous solutions. Adsorption models are efficient tools for accurate prediction and evaluation of the practical adsorption process in real situation. In this study, the two isotherms of Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich models were employed to investigate the absorption performance of chitosan, PVA, and chitosan/PVA blend (with a weight ratio of 1:1) in the removal of Mn (II) and Ni (II) from aqueous solutions. The PVA adsorbent was crosslinked by both chemical and radiation methods while the others were crosslinked only chemically due to Chitosan’s lack of resistance to radiation. The results showed that the Langmuir model fitted the experimental data better than the Dubinin-Radushkevich one for both metals. The maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) of the Langmuir model showed that the PVA/Chitosan adsorbent had the best adsorption compared to other adsorbents, with 52.63 mg/g for Ni and 30.30 mg/g for Mn (evidently more Ni was absorbed than Mn). Also, maximum adsorption by the chemically crosslinked PVA was 38.46 mg/g for Ni and 19.23 mg/g for Mn, which exhibits a higher level than adsorption by the radiation crosslinked PVA The results indicate that absorption capacity depends on the type of adsorbed metal, absorbent structure, and the crosslinking method employed.
