Abstract
Removal of pollutants from water via adsorption on to activated carbon is a promising remediation technique. However, due to its high cost and limited availability, it is necessary to investigate alternate adsorbent sources. Fly ash is, an inexpensive and abundantly available by-product from thermal power plants that utilizes coal for the production of energy. A study was conducted to (i) identify the optimum conditions for Cd adsorption by fly ash, (ii) evaluate the potential use of fly ash to remove cadmium from a mixed metal solution of Cu, Cd, Mn, Ni, and Zn at room temperature mimicking industrial and municipal effluents and (iii) study the kinetics of Cd adsorption. Preliminary results of the study indicated that a pH of 5 was optimum for Cd removal. Results of the kinetics studies indicated that removal of Cd by fly ash increased with increasing contact time while Cd removal also marginally increased with increasing amount of adsorbent used. Fitting of Cd adsorption data for the full range of metal concentrations was described by a Freundlich model with a moderate correlation coefficient (r = 0.63) while the adsorption phenomena was described well by Langmuir isotherms at moderate metal concentration levels (5 to 100 mg L−1) with high correlation coefficient (r = 0.85). This study revealed that fly ash could be used as an adsorbent to remove Cd from wastewater containing a mixture of various inorganic pollutants.
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Hajarnavis, M., Sajwan, K.S., Paramasivam, S., Chetty, C.S., Reddy, G.R. (2003). Potential Use of Fly Ash to Remove Cadmium from Aqueous Systems. In: Sajwan, K.S., Alva, A.K., Keefer, R.F. (eds) Chemistry of Trace Elements in Fly Ash. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4757-7_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4757-7_12
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