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Removal of Pb(II), Cd(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) by hematite nanoparticles: effect of sorbent concentration, pH, temperature, and exhaustion

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Abstract

Nanoparticles offer the potential to improve environmental treatment technologies due to their unique properties. Adsorption of metal ions (Pb(II), Cd(II), Cu(II), Zn(II)) to nanohematite was examined as a function of sorbent concentration, pH, temperature, and exhaustion. Adsorption experiments were conducted with 0.05, 0.1, and 0.5 g/L nanoparticles in a pH 8 solution and in spiked San Antonio tap water. The adsorption data showed the ability of nanohematite to remove Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn species from solution with adsorption increasing as the nanoparticle concentration increased. At 0.5 g/L nanohematite, 100 % Pb species adsorbed, 94 % Cd species adsorbed, 89 % Cu species adsorbed and 100 % Zn species adsorbed. Adsorption kinetics for all metals tested was described by a pseudo second-order rate equation with lead having the fastest rate of adsorption. The effect of temperature on adsorption showed that Pb(II), Cu(II), and Cd(II) underwent an endothermic reaction, while Zn(II) underwent an exothermic reaction. The nanoparticles were able to simultaneously remove multiple metals species (Zn, Cd, Pb, and Cu) from both a pH 8 solution and spiked San Antonio tap water. Exhaustion experiments showed that at pH 8, exhaustion did not occur for the nanoparticles but adsorption does decrease for Cd, Cu, and Zn species but not Pb species. The strong adsorption coupled with the ability to simultaneously remove multiple metal ions offers a potential remediation method for the removal of metals from water.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge financial support from the National Science Foundation through the Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grant in Engineering (EEC-0823685) and the Center for Water Research at UTSA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX, 78249, USA

    Heather J. Shipley & Karen E. Engates

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, CALIBRE, 1777 NE Loop 410, Suite 628, San Antonio, TX, 78217, USA

    Valerie A. Grover

Authors
  1. Heather J. Shipley
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  2. Karen E. Engates
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  3. Valerie A. Grover
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heather J. Shipley.

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Responsible editor: Vinod Kumar Gupta

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Fig. S1

Speciation diagram of Pb(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), and Zn(II) of 1,000 μg L−1 in aqueous solution at 22°C (calculated using MINTEQ; docx 42 kb)

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Shipley, H.J., Engates, K.E. & Grover, V.A. Removal of Pb(II), Cd(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) by hematite nanoparticles: effect of sorbent concentration, pH, temperature, and exhaustion. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 1727–1736 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-0984-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-0984-z

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