Premium
Effect of chloride and nitrate salts on Hg( II ) sorption by raw and pyrolyzed malt spent rootlets
Author(s) -
Boutsika Lamprini G,
Karapanagioti Hrissi K,
Manariotis Ioannis D
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.5215
Subject(s) - sorption , mercury (programming language) , chemistry , chloride , nitrate , environmental chemistry , sulfate , pyrolysis , inorganic chemistry , nuclear chemistry , adsorption , organic chemistry , computer science , programming language
BACKGROUND Mercury is considered to be one of the most harmful metals for human health and the environment. Biomass based materials and the corresponding biochars show promising potential as Hg( II ) sorbents. Sorption is an effective process to remove Hg( II ) from polluted waters, and is mainly affected by water chemistry. The sorption efficiency of malt spent rootlets and their biochar was evaluated at various ionic strength levels with two different salts, NaCl and NaNO 3 . RESULTS For both materials, the salts were added at concentrations of 1, 0.5, 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001 mol L −1 . At pH 5, Hg( II ) removal was not significantly affected by the presence of NaNO 3 . High Hg( II ) removal was obtained even at high NaNO 3 concentrations; 53% at 1 mol L −1 NaNO 3 . A significant decrease of Hg( II ) sorption was observed with the increase of NaCl concentration. Hg( II ) removal was 55% and 20% at 1 mmol L −1 and 1 mol L −1 NaCl , respectively. CONCLUSIONS The differences observed in salinity effect can be related to the different counter ions present in the salts. Low Cl − or NO 3 − concentrations did not interfere strongly with mercury sorption, but excess Cl − formed mercury species with negative charge, which demonstrated lower sorption. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry