Adsorption potential of magnetite nanoparticles for copper removal from aqueous solution

Abstract

In this study, the magnetite nanoparticles (MNP) was successfully synthesized from mill scale waste to analyze the removal of Cu (II) ions from the aqueous solution. The micron-sized magnetite was milled using the high energy ball mills (HEBM with the variation of milling hours 3,5 and 7 to produce nano-sized particles. The MNP were measured by X-Rays Diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). Studied parameters are contact time, the initial concentration and particle size. The adsorption kinetics was relatively quick and equilibrium is reached at about 30 minutes. In kinetic studies, the pseudo-second-order model was employed. Langmuir model (R2>0.9987) corresponded with the adsorption isotherm data of Cu (II) ions. The adsorption capacity of Cu (II) ions onto magnetite nanoparticles (MNP) is 11.36 mgg-1 at 7 hours milling hours. Pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir isotherm were obeyed with experimental results.