Removal of Silver Nanoparticles from Water Environment: Experimental, Mathematical Formulation, and Cost Analysis

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 230; no. 5; pp. 1 - 15
• Main Authors: Syafiuddin, Achmad, Salmiati, Salmiati, Hadibarata, Tony, Salim, Mohd Razman, Kueh, Ahmad Beng Hong, Suhartono, Suhartono
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-05-2019; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Adsorbents; Adsorption; Agricultural wastes; Analysis; Analytical methods; Aquatic plants; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Carbon; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Cost analysis; Earth and Environmental Science; Economic aspects; Electron microscopy; Energy dispersive X ray spectroscopy; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Evaluation; Floating plants; Fourier transforms; Freshwater plants; Hydrogeology; Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; Infrared spectroscopy; Marine environment; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Mathematical models; Microscopy; Nanoparticles; Removal; Root-mean-square errors; Scanning electron microscopy; Silver; Soil Science & Conservation; Spectroscopy; Spectrum analysis; Technology; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Water supply; Water treatment; X-ray spectroscopy; Cost analysis; Pollutant removal; Activated carbon; Silver nanoparticles
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-019-4143-8

This paper deals with the comprehensive analysis for the removal of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from water environment. A new activated carbon derived from an agricultural waste, water lily mango seed shells, was proposed as a low-cost adsorbent to remove AgNPs. In addition, a new simple kinetic model was mathematically formulated and then tested using primary and secondary experimental AgNP adsorption data on different adsorbents. Moreover, cost analysis for the activated carbon production and removal of AgNPs was also estimated. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICPMS) analyses were employed for the characterization. The proposed model evaluation was carried out using six statistical indicators, which are the coefficient of determination (
R
2
), root mean squared error (RMSE), percentage of error in maximum estimated value (
E
max
), percentage of error in minimum estimated value (
E
min
), mean absolute percent error (MAPE), and mean absolute deviation (MAD). This study found that the proposed activated carbon performed a rapid removal with a maximum percentage of up to 97%. It was also interesting to note that the proposed model outperformed existing kinetic models having the same number of parameters. Cost analysis carried out in this study exhibited that the activated carbon was highly economical compared with other water treatment technologies reported elsewhere.