Demineralised Lignite Fly Ash for the Removal of Zn(II) Ions from Aqueous Solution.docVIP

Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 2013, 5, 72-81 /10.4236/jwarp.2013.51009 Published Online January 2013 (/journal/jwarp) Demineralised Lignite Fly Ash for the Removal of Zn(II) Ions from Aqueous Solution Thaligai Subramanian Malarvizhi , Thirumalaisamy Santhi * Department of Chemistry, Karpagam University, Coimbatore, India Email: * malarvizhi_jsc@, ssnilasri@yahoo.co.in Received November 3, 2012; revised December 2, 2012; accepted December 10, 2012 ABSTRACT Among the various possibilities of limiting the disposal of fly ashes (lignite), their reutilization as adsorbent materials is worthy of consideration. To this end, proper ashes beneficiation techniques can be put into practice. The adsorption of toxic compounds from industrial wastewater is an effective method for both treating these effluents and recycling lig- nite fly ash. The aim of this paper is to give a contribution for understanding the relationships among beneficiation treatments, adsorbent properties and adsorption mechanism and efficiency. In this context, the lignite fly ash was de- mineralised using concentrated HCl and HF (FA-DEM) and was used as adsorbent for Zn(II) ions from aqueous solu- tions. Batch experiments were carried out under various adsorbent dosages, pH, contact time and different metal ion concentrations. For FA-DEM, the 57.7% removal of Zn(II) ion was achieved under the optimum conditions of adsorb- ent dosages of 4 g/L, pH at 6, temperature at 303 K and the contact time of 1.15 h. The adsorption of Zn(II) ions onto FA-DEM followed the pseudo second order kinetics. The Langmuir isotherm model best represented the equilibrium data. Keywords: Fly Ash; Zn(II) Ion; Adsorption; Kinetics; Isotherm 1. Introduction results in a large quantity of sludge that requires supple- mentary treatment. Replacing synthetic substrates with low-cost adsorbents has, therefore, been intensively stud- ied, and there have been report