Study of the Factors Influencing the Adsorption of Heavy Metal Pollutants in Water by Activated Carbon Gel Particles
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 7
Abstract
The application of sodium alginate is limited because of its relatively small adsorption capacity, easy to release cations into water after forming gel with divalent cations, and difficult to realize mass production under the condition of controllable cost. In order to solve the aforementioned problems of sodium alginate gel, this study used activated carbon (AC) as a support material to enhance the mechanical properties of sodium alginate gel. Activated carbon-sodium alginate-oxalate gel particles (CSO) were used to increase the number of its oxygen-containing functional groups and improve the adsorption capacity. The specific surface area of the synthesized CSO particles could reach . The particle size of CSO particles was 50% in the range of 80–200 um, and 70% in the range of 40–200 um. The surface zero charge of CSO particles was determined to be 3.14. The thermal stability of CSO particles at 200°C was determined by thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA). By studying the effects of different influencing factors on the process of removing pollutants from water by CSO, it was determined that pH has different effects for different pollutants. The equilibrium adsorption capacity () of CSO for Ni(II), Pb(II), and Cu(II) under the optimum condition of reaction temperature of 50°C was 77.14, 53.04, and , respectively. The adsorption isotherms were fitted to obtain the maximum adsorption capacity () of CSO for Ni(II), Pb(II), and Cu(II) as 75.56, 49.65, and . A combination of X-ray electron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) characterization demonstrated that the main mechanisms for the removal of divalent metal cations by CSO particles involved electrostatic adsorption and ion exchange. Overall, this work provides a good reference for the purification of heavy metal–polluted water by CSO particles.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province, China (No. 2023-ZDLSF-63), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42261144749).
References
Abdelwahab, M. S., N. M. Elhalfawy, and M. Y. Elnaggar. 2022. “Lead adsorption and antibacterial activity using modified magnetic biochar/sodium alginate nanocomposite.” Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 206 (May): 730–739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2022.03.053.
Alsamman, M. T., and J. Sanchez. 2021. “Recent advances on hydrogels based on chitosan and alginate for the adsorption of dyes and metal ions from water.” Arab. J. Chem. 14 (12): 103455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2021.103455.
Barani, H. 2018. “Modification of bentonite with different surfactants and substitute as a mordant in wool natural dyeing.” Chiang Mai J. Sci. 45 (1): 492–504.
Bystrzejewski, M., K. Pyrzynska, A. Huczko, and H. Lange. 2009. “Carbon-encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles as separable and mobile sorbents of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions.” Carbon 47 (4): 1201–1204.
Cheng, M., and F. Y. Yuan. 2004. “The application of modify zeolite in wastewater treatment.” Ind. Water Treat. 12: 6–9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4544104.
Fan, C. Z., K. Li, Y. He, Y. Wang, X. Qian, and J. Jia. 2018. “Evaluation of magnetic chitosan beads for adsorption of heavy metal ions.” Sci. Total Environ. 627 (Jun): 1396–1403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.033.
Feng, Z. S., and X. E. Hu. 2012. “Treatment of lead-containing wastewater by three-dimensional electrode electrolysis.” Ind. Water Treat. 32 (4): 42–45.
Hu, X., L. Long, T. Gong, J. Zhang, J. Yan, and Y. Xue. 2020. “Enhanced alginate-based microsphere with the pore-forming agent for efficient removal of Cu (II).” Chemosphere 240 (Feb): 124860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124860.
Kalavathy, M. H., T. Karthikeyan, S. Rajgopal, and L. R. Miranda. 2005. “Kinetic and isotherm studies of Cu(II) adsorption onto H3PO4-activated rubber wood sawdust.” J. Colloid Interface Sci. 292 (2): 354–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2005.05.087.
Li, L., J. Zhang, Y. Li, and C. Yang. 2017. “Removal of Cr (VI) with a spiral wound chitosan nanofiber membrane module via dead-end filtration.” J. Membrane Sci. 544 (Dec): 333–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2017.09.045.
Liu, L. H., Z. C. Yang, and L. Zhao. 2018. “Research progress in adsorption materials for heavy metals.” Mater. China 37 (2): 100–108. https://doi.org/10.7502/j.issn.1674-3962.2018.02.04.
Nandi, N., A. Baral, K. Basu, S. Roy, and A. Banerjee. 2017. “A dipeptide-based superhydrogel: Removal of toxic dyes and heavy metal ions from waste water.” Biopolymers 108 (1): e22915. https://doi.org/10.1002/bip.22915.
Pan, S. Y., W. J. Syh, T. K. Chang, and C. H. Lee. 2020. “A multiple model approach for evaluating the performance of time-lapse capsules in trapping heavy metals from water bodies.” RSC Adv. 10 (28): 16490–16501. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA03017A.
Sun, X., J. Zhu, Q. Gu, and Y. You. 2018. “Surface-modified chitin by TEMPO-mediated oxidation and adsorption of Cd (II).” Colloids Surf., A 555 (Oct): 103–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2018.06.041.
Verma, A., S. Thakur, G. Mamba, R. K. Gupta, P. Thakur, and V. K. Thakur. 2020. “Graphite modified sodium alginate hydrogel composite for efficient removal of malachite green dye.” Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 148 (Apr): 1130–1139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.01.142.
Wan, M. W., C. C. Kan, B. D. Rogel, and M. L. Dalida. 2010. “Adsorption of copper (II) and lead (II) ions from aqueous solution on chitosan-coated sand.” Carbohydr. Polym. 80 (3): 891–899. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2009.12.048.
Wong, S. L., B. B. Nyakuma, and K. Y. Wong. 2020. “Microplastics and nanoplastics in global food webs: A bibliometric analysis (2009-2019).” Mar. Pollut. Bull. 158 (Sep): 111432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111432.
Wu, J., H. Zheng, F. Zhang, R. J. Zeng, and B. Xing. 2019. “Iron-carbon composite from carbonization of iron-crosslinked sodium alginate for Cr(VI) removal.” Chem. Eng. J. 362 (Apr): 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.01.009.
Xiong, X. Y., S. Y. Pu, H. Ma, J. Yang, and R. Zhu. 2016. “Review on removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution by hydrogel adsorption.” Ind. Water Treat. 36 (5): 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-018-00828-y.
Yang, T. T., and X. J. Xu. 2015. “Treatment of lead-containing mine pit water discharge by coagulation and sedimentation process.” Chem. Ind. Eng. Prog. 34 (6): 1799–1803. https://doi.org/10.16085/j.issn.1000-6613.2015.06.047.
Yi, X., F. Sun, Z. Han, F. Han, J. He, M. Ou, J. Gu, and X. Xu. 2018. “Graphene oxide encapsulated polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate hydrogel microspheres for Cu (II) and U (VI) removal.” Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. 158 (Aug): 309–318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2018.04.039.
Yuan, J., L. Shi, and H. B. Li. 2022. “The burden of neonatal diseases attributable to ambient PM 2.5 in China from 1990 to 2019.” Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 10 (Feb): 828408. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.828408.
Zhao, R., X. Li, B. Sun, Y. Li, Y. Li, R. Yang, and C. Wang. 2017. “Branched polyethylenimine grafted electrospun polyacrylonitrile fiber membrane: A novel and effective adsorbent for Cr (VI) remediation in wastewater.” J. Mater. Chem. A 5 (3): 1133–1144. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TA09784G.
Zhao, Y., L. Lang, B. H. Jiang, and S. Deng. 2018. “Experiment and mechanistic study on adsorption and removal of heavy metals in water by corncob-based activated carbon.” J. Northeast. Univ. (Nat. Sci.) 39 (3): 441–445. https://doi.org/10.12068/j.issn.1005-3026.2018.03.027.
Zheng, C., J. Ren, F. He, Y. Yong, Y. Tu, and Z. Wang. 2023. “Nanoscale zero-valent iron dispersed by sodium alginate enables highly efficient removal of lead (Pb) from aqueous solution.” Adsorpt. Sci. Technol. 2023 (Jun): 1829725. https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/1829725.
Zhou, A., C. Zhu, W. Chen, J. Wan, T. Tao, T. C. Zhang, and P. Xie. 2018. “Phosphorus recovery from water by lanthanum hydroxide embedded inter-penetrating network poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate hydrogel beads.” Colloids Surf., A 554 (Oct): 237–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2018.05.086.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 7 • July 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 18, 2023
Accepted: Jan 15, 2024
Published online: Apr 26, 2024
Published in print: Jul 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Sep 26, 2024
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.