Removal of Cu(II), Fe(III), and Cr(III) from Aqueous Solution by Aniline Grafted Silica Gel

Abstract

The aniline moiety was covalently grafted onto silica gel surface. The modified silica gel with aniline groups (SiAn) was used for removal of Cu(II), Fe(III), and Cr(III) ions from aqueous solution and industrial effluents using a batch adsorption procedure. The maximum adsorption of the transition metal ions took place at pH 4.5. The adsorption kinetics for all the adsorbates fitted better the pseudo second‐order kinetic model, obtaining the following adsorption rate constants (k₂): 1.233 · 10⁻², 1.902 · 10⁻², and 8.320 · 10⁻³ g · mg⁻¹ min⁻¹ for Cr(III), Cu(II), and Fe(III), respectively. The adsorption of these transition metal ions were fitted to Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips, and Redlich‐Peterson isotherm models; however, the best isotherm model fitting which presented a lower difference of the q (amount adsorbed per gram of adsorbent) calculated by the model from the experimentally measured, was achieved by using the Sips model for all adsorbates chosen. The SiAn adsorbent was also employed for the removal of the transition metal ions Cr(III) (95%), Cu(II) (95%), and Fe(III) (94%) from industrial effluents, using the batch adsorption procedure.

Keywords:

• Chemically modified silica gel
• isotherm models
• kinetics of adsorption
• batch adsorption procedure
• treatment of effluents

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT), and to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), for financial support and fellowships. We also wish to thank Perkin Elmer for donating impact beads utilized in the nebulizer of the Analyst 200 spectrometer.