Adsorption Study of Arsenic Removal by Novel Hybrid Copper Impregnated Tufa Adsorbents in a Batch System

• Published in: Clean : soil, air, water Vol. 44; no. 11; pp. 1477 - 1488
• Main Authors: Bajić, Zoran J., Veličković, Zlate S., Djokić, Veljko R., Perić-Grujić, Aleksandra A., Ersen, Ovidiu, Uskoković, Petar S., Marinković, Aleksandar D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-11-2016; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adsorbents; Adsorption; Arsenate; Arsenic removal; Arsenite; Carbonate materials; Copper oxide; Water quality
• ISSN: 1863-0650; 1863-0669
• DOI: 10.1002/clen.201500765

Performance of a novel adsorbent, copper impregnated natural mineral tufa (T–Cu), applicable for efficient arsenic removal is presented in this study. Testing of adsorbent properties encompassed material characterization and equilibrium study in a batch system. Copper modification contributed to increased adsorption capacities, that is, from 4.65 to 67.83 mg g−1 for As(III), and from 6.84 to 104.62 mg g−1 for As(V), comparing to unmodified tufa. The obtained thermodynamic data indicated higher feasibility and spontaneity of the adsorption process at higher temperature. A competitive study in a multi‐component system showed that T–Cu adsorbents effectively removed arsenic species at high concentrations of interfering ions. The high adsorption capacity and multi‐cycle reusability gave positive techno‐economic indicators in comparison to commercial adsorbents.
Precipitation of copper on the natural material tufa contributes to the improvement of the performance of a novel adsorbent, T–Cu, regarding to textural properties, adsorption/kinetics, and selectivity with respect to arsenic. Copper modification contributes to increase adsorption capacities from 4.65 to 67.83 mg g−1 for As(III), and from 6.84 to 104.62 mg g−1 for As(V), comparing to unmodified tufa.