1.
Cd(II) adsorption on various adsorbents obtained from charred biomaterials.
Li, Z, Katsumi, T, Imaizumi, S, Tang, X, Inui, T
Journal of hazardous materials. 2010;(1-3):410-20
Abstract
Cadmium could cause severe toxicant impact to living beings and is especially mobile in the environment. Biomass is abundant and effective to adsorb heavy metals, but is easy to be decomposed biologically which affects the reliability of long-run application. Several biomasses were charred with and without additives at temperatures less than 200°C in this study. The prepared adsorbents were further testified to remove Cd(II) from aqueous solution. Equilibrium and kinetic studies were performed in batch conditions. The effect of several experimental parameters on the cadmium adsorption kinetics namely: contact time, initial cadmium concentration, sorbent dose, initial pH of solution and ionic strength was evaluated. Kinetic study confirmed (1) the rapid adsorption of Cd(II) on GC within 10 min and (2) the following gradual intraparticle diffusion inwards the sorbent at neutral pH and outwards at strong acidic solution. The grass char (GC) was selected for further test according to its high adsorption capacity (115.8 mg g(-1)) and affinity (Langmuir type isotherm). The Cd(II) removal efficiency was increased with increasing solution pH while the highest achieved at sorbent dosage 10.0 g L(-1). The ionic strength affects the sorption of Cd(II) on GC to a limited extent whereas calcium resulted in larger competition to the sorption sites than potassium. Spectroscopic investigation revealed the adsorption mechanisms between Cd(II) and surface functional groups involving amine, carboxyl and iron oxide. The long-term stability of the pyrolyzed grass char and the potential application in engineering practices were discussed.
2.
Low-cost supports used to immobilize fungi and reliable technique for removal hexavalent chromium in wastewater.
Li, H, Liu, T, Li, Z, Deng, L
Bioresource technology. 2008;(7):2234-41
Abstract
The main goal of this study was to exploit low-cost and efficient sorbents for the removal and recovery of Cr(VI) in wastewater. Three supports of sawdust, polyurethane and alginate were applied to immobilize living and dead R. cohnii cells, respectively. There was a distinct increase in the Cr(VI) removal efficiency before and after the HCl-pretreatment. Langmuir adsorption isotherm model was well used to describe the distribution of Cr(VI) between the liquid and solid phases in batch studies. The values of q0 predicted by Thomas model were near to experimental ones in the experiments of packed column. The breakthrough curves calculated with this model were consistent well with experimental ones at a largely extent. Desorption, regeneration and reuse of the packed column were studied. After 5 cycles, adsorption capacity was still kept at higher level, reaching to 91.4, 87.9, 91.4 and 93.3mg/l contrasted with the first cycle (94.1, 90.4, 94.8 and 98.5mg/l) and the desorption efficiency were 85.0%, 96.2%, 93.4% and 91.4% compared with the first cycle (87.6%, 95.4%, 96.7% and 94.3%), corresponding to living cells immobilized with sawdust, polyurethane, and dead cells immobilized with polyurethane and alginate, respectively. The results indicated that the packed columns with the immobilized living and dead R. cohnii cells were the better option to adsorb, desorb and recover Cr(VI) from wastewater.