Mechanism of simultaneous removal of aluminum and fluoride from aqueous solution by La/Mg/Si-activated carbon

Minhee Kim, Choe Earn Choong, Seunghun Hyun, Chang Min Park, Gooyong Lee

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    51 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    La/Mg/Si-activated carbon derived from palm shell has been a suitable material for removal of aluminum and fluoride from aqueous solution. In the study, the mechanism of simultaneous removal of aluminum and fluoride by La/Mg/Si-activated carbon (La/Mg/Si-AC) was investigated to understand its high efficiency. It was found that the removal of aluminum and fluoride by La/Mg/Si-AC was favored at lower pH compared to the point of zero charge of La/Mg/Si-AC and high temperature. Adsorption capacity of Al(OH)4- was about 10 times higher than that of F- due to the strong binding affinity of Al(OH)4- on protonated surface and competition between F- and OH- toward charged adsorption site. Kinetics results showed that the aluminum and fluoride adsorption were explained using the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and intra-particle diffusion model. Adsorption process of Al(OH)4- and F- was driven by the potential rate-limiting step involved in mass transport process occurred on the boundary diffusion layer of porous adsorbent surface. Electrostatic interaction between protonated surface of La/Mg/Si-AC and negatively charged ions (i.e., Al(OH)4- and F-) as well as ion-exchange between hydroxide and ionic metal species were important mechanisms in the process of aluminum and fluoride adsorption. Driving forces for adsorption of individual Al(OH)4- and F- were not entirely different. Identifying the dominant mechanism will be helpful in understanding the adsorption process and developing new adsorbent. Mechanism of simultaneous removal of aluminum and fluoride by lanthanum/magnesium/silica -activated carbon are predicted.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number126580
    JournalChemosphere
    Volume253
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020 Aug

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education ( NRF-2018R1A6A1A03024962 ).

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2020

    Keywords

    • Adsorption mechanism
    • Aluminum
    • Fluoride
    • Lanthanum/magnesium/silica-activated carbon

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Environmental Engineering
    • General Chemistry
    • Environmental Chemistry
    • Pollution
    • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
    • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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