Removal of Copper Ions from Wastewater Using Magnetite Loaded On Active Carbon (AC) and Oxidized Active Carbon (OAC) Support

Abstract

The magnetite Fe 3 O 4 was supported on active carbon AC (Fe 3 O 4 /AC) and oxidized active carbon OAC (Fe 3 O 4 /OAC). It was prepared by co-precipitation method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), surface area measurements (BET) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques. Fe 3 O 4 /AC and Fe 3 O 4 /OAC were used as adsorbents for removal of Cu (II) ions from wastewater. The effect of adsorption parameters such as contact time, the pH of the solution, the weight of adsorbent and the initial concentration of Cu(II) ions was elucidated to achieve the process's optimal operational conditions. It was found that the removal percentage of the Cu(II) ions was reached to 96.15 % after 30 min. The adsorption process fitted very well the pseudo-second-order model and the adsorption equilibrium data could be well described by the Langmuir isotherm. 1.Introduction: The effluents carrying high concentration of heavy metals are extremely toxic to human and aquatic life; resulting in kidney and liver problems and genotoxic carcinogen, ultimately deteriorating public human health [Muhammad et al ., 2011],[Luo et al.,2016]. The main source of heavy metals polluting the drinking water is the industrial wastewater (produced primarily in modern chemical industries based on fossil fuels, batteries, metal plating, pesticides, and many others) [Ihsanullah et al.,2016]. Though many metals are prerequisite in small quantities for good health, but they may be toxic for human at high level like copper [Randhaw et al.,2015]. The presence of copper ions are believed to severely poison the drinking water [Fu and Wang 2011]. The excessive ingestion of Cu(II) ions causes numerous health issues including an increased blood pressure and respiratory variations (causing serious damages within the kidney and liver), convulsion, cramps, vomiting, or even death [Ihsanullah et al.,2016],[ Si-Yong et al., 2019].