Adsorptive separation of cadmium from aqueous solutions and wastewaters by riverbed sand

Effect of multiple factors on the adsorption of Cd in an alluvial soil from Xiba, China

The effects of organic matter, free Fe oxides and Mn oxides in an alluvial soil on adsorption of Cd were studied through selective chemical extraction and adsorption experiments. Compared to untreated soil, after H₂O₂ treatment for removal of organic matter and NH₂OH·HCl treatment for removal Mn oxides, the distribution coefficient (K_d) decreased by a maximum of 25.2% and 64.1%, respectively. After dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate treatment for removal of free Fe oxides, K_d increased by 1670.2%. After increasing the solution pH from 2 to 3, K_d increased by 2842.1%, whereas after increasing the solution pH from 3 to 7, the adsorption tended stabilize. As the ionic strength increased from 0.001 M to 0.1 M NaNO₃, K_d gradually decreased, whereas at the same ionic strength, K_d decreased as the initial concentration of Cd increased. The effects of different background electrolytes on Cd adsorption was as follows: Ca²⁺ > Mg²⁺ > K⁺ > Na⁺ for cations and Cl^- ≈ SO₄^2- > NO₃^- for anions. The adsorption capacity of Cd increased as the increased of temperature, and it's a spontaneous endothermic process. The pseudo second-order rate model described the process of Cd adsorption well.

Utilization of water hyacinth weed (Eichhornia crassipes) for the removal of Pb(II), Cd(II) and Zn(II) from aquatic environments: an adsorption isotherm study

The potential of Eichhornia crassipes biomass for the adsorption of three metal ions, Pb(II), Cd(II) and Zn(II), from aqueous solution was studied using five two-parameter adsorption isotherm equations--Langmuir, Freundlich, Flory-Huggins, Temkin and Redlich-Peterson isotherms. The equilibrium adsorption data were obtained at different initial metal ion concentrations (C0 = 10-60 mg/L), 3 h contact time, 30 degrees C temperature, a dosage of 2 g/L, agitation rate of 150 rpm and buffered at pH 4.84. Langmuir isotherms gave monolayer sorption capacities (qm) of 26.32, 12.60 and 12.55 mg/g for Pb(II), Cd(II) and Zn(II) metal ions, respectively. The same trend of metal uptake was indicated by plots of sorption favourability (S(F)). Negative values of deltaGads0 indicated that the adsorption was spontaneous and exothermic in nature, and values from the Temkin isotherm constant, bT, suggested a mechanism consistent with an ion-exchange process. The results from these studies indicated that E. crassipes biomass has promising potential for the removal of toxic metals from aquatic environments.

Competitive adsorption of Pb2+, Cd2+ and Zn2+ ions onto Eichhornia crassipes in binary and ternary systems

A batch sorption technique was used to study the biosorption of Pb(2+), Cd(2+) and Zn(2+) ions onto the vastly abundant water hyacinth weed, Eichhornia crassipes biomass in binary and ternary systems at a temperature of 30 degrees C and pH 4.84. Mutual interference effects were probed using equilibrium adsorption capacity ratios, q(e)(')/q(e), where the prime indicates the presence of one or two other metal ions. The combined action of the metals was found to be antagonistic, and the metal sorption followed the order Pb(2+)>>Cd(2+)>>Zn(2+). The behaviour of competitive biosorption for Pb-Cd and Pb-Zn combinations were successfully described by the Langmuir Competitive Model (CLM), whilst the model showed poor fitting to the Cd-Zn data. In conclusion, Pb(2+) ions could still be effectively removed from aqueous solution in the presence of both Cd(2+) and Zn(2+) ions, but removal of the Cd(2+) and Zn(2+) ions would be suppressed in the presence of Pb(2+).