Changes in Physical Properties and Its Metal Removal Efficiency for The Yellow Soils by Calcination Process

Metal removal from water has not been explained clearly by either adsorption onto the surface of absorbents or precipitation as metal hydroxides because those occur simultaneously to a certain extent. For a better understanding of the metal removal mechanisms, batch experiments were performed using soil calcined at 850°C under various pH conditions for Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Cr. The results showed that the metal removal efficiency with the exception of Cr decreased abruptly, even within 5 min, showing more than 90% removal. The pH of each reactant increased gradually from around 7 to 9 with time. The increases in metal removal at higher pH appear to be associated with metal hydroxides precipitation. Comparative experiments, which were carried out changing the pH by reacting with commercial activated carbon (CAC), natural yellow soil (NYS), and calcined yellow soil (CYS), showed that the pH of the CYS only increased with time. Calcination processes might lead to a change in the physical properties of the soil matrix resulting in a high pH when reacted with water. Apart from adsorption onto the surface of the absorbents, these results show that the adsorption and/or precipitation of hydroxides onto the surface of adsorbents also play important roles in regulating the dissolved metals under alkaline conditions.