Statistical investigation of lead removal with various functionalized carboxylate ferroxane nanoparticles

Silanized fiberglass modified by carbon dots as novel and impressive adsorbent for aqueous heavy metal ion removal

This work discusses the application of a silanized fiberglass (SFG) modified by carbon dots (CDs) as an effective adsorbent for up-taking some heavy metal ions including lead (Pb2+), chromium (Cr3+), cadmium (Cd2+), cobalt (Co2+), and nickel (Ni2+) as pollutant in the aqueous solution by batch method. Removal tests were carried out after optimization of pH, contact time, initial concentration of metal ions, and CDs amount. The SFG modified with CDs (CDs-SFG) was applied for the removal of 10 ppm of each metal ion solution after 100 min and the corresponding results showed the removal efficiencies of 100, 93.2, 91.8, 90, and 88.3% for Pb2+, Cd2+, Cr3+, Co2+, and Ni2+, respectively. The adsorption capacity of CDs-SFG in the metal ion mixed solution was also evaluated, and the results indicated the same trend in the adsorption capacity for metal ions in the mixed solution, though with lower absolute values compared to the single metal solutions. Moreover, the selectivity of this adsorbent for the adsorption of Pb2+ was almost twice of other tested metal ions. The regeneration of the CDs-SFG showed that its adsorption capacity after five cycles was reduced about 3.9, 6.0, 6.8, 6.7, and 8.0% for Pb2+, Cd2+, Cr3+, Co2+, and Ni2+, respectively. Finally, the applicability of the CDs-SFG adsorbent was examined with the analysis of the metal ions in water and wastewater samples.

Heavy metal remediation using chelator-enhanced washing of municipal solid waste compost based on spectroscopic characterization

Due to high metal toxicity, mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) compost is difficult to use. This study detected the presence of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn) in MSW compost through mineralogical analysis using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and performed topographical imaging and elemental mapping using a scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX). Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), a typical chelator, is tested to remove heavy metals from Indian MSW compost (New Delhi and Mumbai). It deals with two novel aspects, viz., (i) investigating the influence of EDTA-washing conditions, molarity, dosage, MSW compost-sample size, speed, and contact time, on their metal removal efficiencies, and (ii) maximizing the percentage removal of heavy metals by determining the optimal process control process parameters. These parameters were optimized in a batch reactor utilizing Taguchi orthogonal (L₂₅) array. The optimization showed that the removal efficiencies were 96.71%, 47.37%, and 49.94% for Cd, Pb, and Zn in Delhi samples, whereas 45.55%, 79.52%, 59.63%, 82.31%, and 88.40% for Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn in Mumbai samples. Results indicate that the removal efficiency of heavy metals was greatly influenced by EDTA-molarity. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the presence of hydroxyl group, which aids heavy metal chelation. The results reveal the possibility of EDTA to reduce the hazardous properties of MSW compost.

Efficient Removal of Pb(II) from Aqueous Medium Using Chemically Modified Silica Monolith

The adsorptive removal of lead (II) from aqueous medium was carried out by chemically modified silica monolith particles. Porous silica monolith particles were prepared by the sol-gel method and their surface modification was carried out using trimethoxy silyl propyl urea (TSPU) to prepare inorganic–organic hybrid adsorbent. The resultant adsorbent was evaluated for the removal of lead (Pb) from aqueous medium. The effect of pH, adsorbent dose, metal ion concentration and adsorption time was determined. It was found that the optimum conditions for adsorption of lead (Pb) were pH 5, adsorbent dose of 0.4 g/L, Pb(II) ions concentration of 500 mg/L and adsorption time of 1 h. The adsorbent chemically modified SM was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), BET/BJH and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). The percent adsorption of Pb(II) onto chemically modified silica monolith particles was 98%. An isotherm study showed that the adsorption data of Pb(II) onto chemically modified SM was fully fitted with the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. It was found from kinetic study that the adsorption of Pb(II) followed a pseudo second-order model. Moreover, thermodynamic study suggests that the adsorption of Pb(II) is spontaneous and exothermic. The adsorption capacity of chemically modified SM for Pb(II) ions was 792 mg/g which is quite high as compared to the traditional adsorbents. The adsorbent chemically modified SM was regenerated, used again three times for the adsorption of Pb(II) ions and it was found that the adsorption capacity of the regenerated adsorbent was only dropped by 7%. Due to high adsorption capacity chemically modified silica monolith particles could be used as an effective adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater.

Heavy metal pollution and the role of inorganic nanomaterials in environmental remediation

Contamination of water and soil with toxic heavy metals is a major threat to human health. Although extensive work has been performed on reporting heavy metal pollutions globally, there are limited review articles on addressing this pernicious phenomenon. This paper reviews inorganic nanoparticles and provides a framework for their qualities required as good nanoadsorbents for efficient removal of heavy metals from water. Different inorganic nanoparticles including metals, metal oxides and metal sulfides nanoparticles have been applied as nanoadsorbents to successfully treat water with high contaminations of heavy metals at concentrations greater than 100 mg l^-1, achieving high adsorption capacities up to 3449 mg g^-1. It has been identified that the synthesis method, selectivity, stability, regeneration and reusability, and adsorbent separation from solution are critical parameters in deciding on the quality of inorganic nanoadsorbents. Surface functionalized nanoadsorbents were found to possess high selectivity and capacity for heavy metals removal from water even at a very low adsorbent dosage of less than 2 g l^-1, which makes them better than conventional adsorbents in environmental remediation.

Phenylthiosemicarbazide-functionalized UiO-66-NH2 as highly efficient adsorbent for the selective removal of lead from aqueous solutions

A novel metal-organic framework (UiO-66-PTC) for efficient removal of Pb²⁺ ions from wastewater has been prepared by using 4-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazide as the modifier. Various characterizations showed that UiO-66-PTC was successfully synthesized. The absorption results showed that the maximum adsorption capacity of Pb(II) is 200.17 mg/g at 303 K and optimal pH 5. The adsorption kinetic follows the pseudo-second-order model and the adsorption isotherms fit the Langmuir model. This shows that Pb(II) is a single-layer adsorption on the surface of the adsorbent and the rate-controlling step is chemical adsorption. The thermodynamic results show that the adsorption process can proceed spontaneously, belong to the exothermic reaction. The adsorbent can selectively uptake lead ions from wastewater containing multiple interfering ions. After four adsorption and desorption cycles, the adsorption efficiency is still high. The adsorption mechanism of Pb(II) on the adsorbent is mainly through the chelation of Pb(II) with N and S atoms. These results indicate that UiO-66-PTC is an effective material for efficiently and selectivity removal of Pb(II) from solution, which is of practical significance.

Nanomaterials as versatile adsorbents for heavy metal ions in water: a review

Over the years, heavy metal pollution has become a very serious environmental problem worldwide. Even though anthropogenic sources are believed to be the major cause of heavy metal pollution, they can also be introduced into the environment from natural geogenic sources. Heavy metals, because of their toxicity and carcinogenicity, are considered to be the most harmful contaminants of groundwater as well as surface water, a serious threat to both human and aquatic life. Nanomaterials due to their size and higher surface area to volume ratio show some unique properties compared to their bulk counterpart and have drawn significant attention of the scientific community in the last few decades. This large surface area can make these materials as effective adsorbents in pollution remediation studies. In this review, an attempt has been made to focus on the applicability of different types of nanomaterials, such as clay-nanocomposites, metal oxide-based nanomaterials, carbon nanotubes, and various polymeric nanocomposites as adsorbents for removal of variety of heavy metals, such as As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sn, U, V, and Zn, from water as reported during the last few years. This work tries to analyze the metal-nanomaterial interactions, the mechanism of adsorption, the adsorption capacities of the nanomaterials, and the kinetics of adsorption under various experimental conditions. The review brings forward the relation between the physicochemical properties of the nanomaterials and heavy metal adsorption on them.

Competitive removal of Pb2+ and malachite green from water by magnetic phosphate nanocomposites

The competitive removal of Pb²⁺ and malachite green (MG) from water by three magnetic phosphate nanocomposites (Fe₃O₄/Ba₃(PO₄)₂, Fe₃O₄/Sr₅(PO₄)₃(OH), and Fe₃O₄/Sr_5xBa_3x(PO₄)₃(OH), namely "FBP", "FSP", and "FSBP", respectively) was systematically investigated compared with Fe₃O₄ ("F") nanoparticle. Temperature and adsorbent dosage for competitive removal were optimized to be 20 °C and 0.05 g in 50 mL. The kinetic and isothermal adsorption results were fitted well with the pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir model, respectively. In the competitive removal process, FSP showed a high affinity to Pb²⁺ (202.8 mg/g) while FBP possessed high selectivity for MG (175.4 mg/g), and FSBP was effective at simultaneous removal of Pb²⁺ and MG, with a capacity of 143.7 and 90.9 mg/g, respectively. The magnetic contents in nanocomposites allow magnetic separation of materials from the water after treatment. We proposed that the simultaneous removal mechanism by FSBP was due to ion exchange between Pb²⁺ and Sr²⁺ in the lattice and then the formation of hydrogen bonds between PO₄^3- outside the material's surface and positively charged hydrogen in MG. This study indicates the potential of these phosphate nanocomposites to be used as effective materials for selective or simultaneous removal of Pb²⁺ and MG from water.

Biosorption of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution using alginates extracted from Djiboutian seaweeds and deposited on silica particles

High-molecular alginates were extracted from Djiboutian brown seaweeds, Sargassum sp. (S) and Turbinaria (T) and isolated as sodium salts in 31.0 and 42.7% yield by weight. 1H NMR analysis of the uronic acid block-structure indicates mannuronic/guluronic M/G ratios of 0.49 and 3.0 for the alginates extracts, respectively. The resulting alginates were deposited onto native Aerosil 200 silica, amine-functionalized and carboxyl-functionalized silica particles to enhance the mechanical strength providing Alg.(T/S)+SiO2) Alg.(T/S)+SiO2NH2) and Alg.(T)+SiO2CO2H) composites. Taking Pb(II) as examples for toxic heavy metal ions, the effects of the pH, adsorption kinetics, and isotherms have been studied systematically. The best uptake achieved was 585 mg Pb2+ ion/g using Alg.S+SiO2NH2. Furthermore, the Pb(II) ions were successfully desorbed in several cycles from Alg.T+SiO2 using 0.5 M hydrochloric acid. Therefore, Alg.T+SiO2 may be considered as a low-cost biosorbent that quickly adsorbs and easily desorbs analyte lead ions. A comparison of the adsorption capacity of our biopolymer-coated particles with that of other adsorbents reported in the literature reveals that our materials are among the best performing for the adsorption of Pb(II).

Application of carbon dots as efficient catalyst for the green oxidation of phenol: Kinetic study of the degradation and optimization using response surface methodology

The reactivity of bio-polymer based nano carbon dots (NCDs) was studied for catalyzing the decomposition of H₂O₂ to generate free hydroxyl radicals and consequently its applicability in the removal of phenol. To the best of our knowledge, for the first time, this work reports that bio-polymer based NCDs could activate H₂O₂ and yielding more than 99% phenol degradation within 20 min in the presence of 12 mmol H₂O₂. Herein, a simple hydrothermal carbonization route was employed for the synthesis of NCDs. The surface morphology, functional groups and crystallinity of the NCDs are studied. SEM images show the NCDs with spherical shape. The graphitic nature of the NCDs was evident from the XRD pattern. The presence of many surface functional groups is confirmed by FT-IR spectra. The influences of three independent operating parameters involving hydrogen peroxide concentration (4-12 mmol), reaction time (10-20 min) and catalyst amount (50-1000 ppm) on the phenol oxidation rate by two NCDs were examined using response surface methodology (RSM). Terephthalic acid (TA) dosimetry demonstrates that the as-prepared NCDs can produce hydroxyl radicals from H₂O₂, and hence catalyze the oxidation of phenol. Finally, the reusability of the NCDs catalysts was examined and the produced catalysts exhibit good recyclability.

Nanoscale zero-valent iron-assisted soil washing for the removal of potentially toxic elements

The present study focuses on soil washing enhancement via soil pretreatment with nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) for the remediation of potentially toxic elements. To this end, soil polluted with As, Cu, Hg, Pb and Sb was partitioned into various grain sizes (500-2000, 125-500 and <125 μm). The fractions were pretreated with nZVI and subsequently subjected, according to grain size, to Wet-High Intensity Magnetic Separation (WHIMS) or hydrocycloning. The results were compared with those obtained in the absence of nanoparticles. An exhaustive characterization of the magnetic signal of the nanoparticles was done. This provided valuable information regarding potentially toxic elements (PTEs) fate, and allowed a metallurgical accounting correction considering the dilution effects caused by nanoparticle addition. As a result, remarkable recovery yields were obtained for Cu, Pb and Sb, which concentrated with the nZVI in the magnetically separated fraction (WHIMS tests) and underflow (hydrocyclone tests). In contrast, Hg, concentrated in the non-magnetic fraction and overflow respectively, while the behavior of As was unaltered by the nZVI pretreatment. All things considered, the addition of nZVI enhanced the efficiency of soil washing, particularly for larger fractions (125-2000 μm). The proposed methodology lays the foundations for nanoparticle utilization in soil washing operations.

High performance and prospective application of xanthate-modified thiourea chitosan sponge-combined Pseudomonas putida and Talaromyces amestolkiae biomass for Pb(II) removal from wastewater

Biosorption using microbes has been proved to be an efficient technology to remove heavy metals from wastewater, whereas the imperfections in mechanical property and separation limit their practical application. In this study, Pseudomonas putida I3 and Talaromyces amestolkiae Pb respectively combined with xanthate-modified thiourea chitosan sponge (PXTCS and TXTCS) were synthesized to investigate the Pb(II) removal ability from solutions. The prepared biosorbents possessed a three-dimensional macroporous structure convenient for separation. Experimental data indicated their biosorption behaviors well followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum biosorption capacities of PXTCS and TXTCS were 232.03 and 241.61mgg^-1 with 40% P. putida I3 and 15% T. amestolkiae Pb, respectively. For the effects of co-existing metal ions on Pb(II) biosorption, the promoting degree followed the sequence: Zn(II)>Na(I)≈K(I)>Ca(II)>Mg(II)≈Al(III)≫Cd(II)>Fe(III). Both prepared biosorbents were effective in removing heavy metals from simulated industrial effluents containing various trace-level heavy metals or high concentration Pb(II).

Pyridinium-functionalized magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles as a reusable adsorbent for phosphate removal from aqueous solution

In this work, pyridinium-functionalized silica nanoparticles adsorbent (PC/SiO2/Fe3O4) was synthesized for phosphate removal from aqueous solutions. The removal efficiency of phosphate on the PC/SiO2/Fe3O4 was carried out and investigated under various conditions such as pH, contact temperature and initial concentration. The results showed that the adsorption equilibrium could be reached within 10 min, which fitted a Langmuir isotherm model, with maximum adsorption capacity of 94.16 mg/g, and the kinetic data were fitted well by pseudo-second-order and intra-particle diffusion models. Phosphate loaded on the adsorbents could be easily desorbed with 0.2 mol/L of NaOH, and the adsorbents showed good reusability. The adsorption capacity was still around 50 mg/g after 10 times of reuse. All the results demonstrated that this pyridinium-functionalized mesoporous material could be used for the phosphate removal from aqueous solution and it was easy to collect due to its magnetic properties.