Biosorptive Removal of Heavy Metal onto Raw Activated Sludge: Parametric, Equilibrium, and Kinetic Studies
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 9
Abstract
Biosorption of mercury ions from aqueous solution using activated sludge was investigated through parametric experiments. The influence of process variables like initial solution pH, adsorbent dose, initial mercury concentration, agitation speed, and temperature were studied on the metal removal performance of the selected sorbent. The optimal pH was identified as 7.0 and the removal efficiency was found to decrease with an increase in mercury concentration, confirming the limitation on the availability of active sites. An empirical relationship between metal uptake and sorbent dose was proposed. The exothermic nature of the sorption process was observed with a decrease in mercury uptake at high temperatures. A Langmuir isotherm was used to fit the equilibrium data, confirming the presence of monolayer sorption, and the maximum uptake capacity obtained was with mercury solution at 35°C after 180 min of equilibrium time. Pseudo-second-order and power function models were fitted to the kinetic data. The surface morphology of the activated sludge was studied using scanning electron microscope studies and the functional groups were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic method.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 9 • September 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 29, 2014
Accepted: Feb 5, 2015
Published online: Apr 16, 2015
Discussion open until: Sep 16, 2015
Published in print: Sep 1, 2016
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