ABSTRACT
In this study, zirconia-functionalized magnetic core-shell mesoporous carbon composites (Fe3O4@C-ZrO2) were synthesized for the effective removal of Cr(III)-EDTA in high-salinity wastewater. Fe3O4@C-ZrO2 with Fe3O4 as a magnetic core and ZrO2 embedded in a mesoporous carbon skeleton were prepared by the sol-gel method in the nano-casting stage, which can be magnetically separated. The presence of ZrO2 on the adsorbents enhanced the adsorption of Cr(III)-EDTA and the maximum adsorption capacity of Fe3O4@C-ZrO2 was 16.21 mg·g−1 at pH = 3.0, which is remarkably higher than that of Fe3O4@C (3.65 mg·g−1). Fe3O4@C-ZrO2 has a strong anti-interference capability for cations in water, which can exhibit effective adsorption properties in presence of high concentration cations and anions (80 mmol·L−1) and high salt/complexant agent environments. Cr(III)-EDTA removal by adsorption of Fe3O4@C-ZrO2 was mainly through the formation of ternary complexes between ZrO2 in Fe3O4@C-ZrO2 and carboxylic acid groups in Cr(III)-EDTA. The Cr(III)-EDTA saturated Fe3O4@C-ZrO2 can be easily regenerated in 0.1 mol·L−1 NaOH than in 0.1 mol·L−1 HCl and still demonstrated an effective adsorption capacity for Cr(III)-EDTA after three repeated cycles. The results reflect the effective removal of Cr(III)-EDTA by Fe3O4@C-ZrO2 in high-salinity water, providing a new method for removing heavy metals in complex water.
Disclosure statement
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Data availability statement
Data will be made available on request.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01496395.2024.2362731
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Yuanpei Zhang: Writing original draft, Data curation, Investigation. Jiahong Wang: Writing review & editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. Jinming Huang: Writing review & editing, Formal Analysis. Zhi Hu: Project administration, Validation.