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Boron Sorption on Wastewater Dissolved Organic Matter: pH Effect
Author(s) -
Keren R.,
Communar G.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2008.0381
Subject(s) - adsorption , dissolved organic carbon , effluent , chemistry , sorption , wastewater , organic matter , langmuir adsorption model , environmental chemistry , sewage treatment , sewage , chromatography , environmental engineering , organic chemistry , environmental science
Although it is well known that B interacts with organic matter, no information is available yet on B adsorption by dissolved organic matter (DOM) from treated sewage effluent. This study aimed to determine the effect of pH on B adsorption by DOM in sewage effluent, and to develop a B adsorption model for DOM as a function of pH. The DOM used in this study was separated from effluent from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The B adsorption isotherms for the DOM were determined at various pH levels ranging from 5.1 to 10.9. Boron adsorption by DOM increased significantly as the pH increased from 5.8 to 9.25, and maximized at pH 9.3. The B adsorption values at any given constant pH, as calculated by using the Langmuir adsorption equation fitted every single adsorption isotherm well, but the adsorption parameters k B–DOM and b mDOM were both pH dependent. The competitive adsorption model simulated well B adsorption by DOM only at the high pH range, but failed at the lower range. The deviation between the predicted values and the experimental data in the low pH range is probably due to changes in DOM structure and acidic functional groups content. Good agreement between calculated and experimental results at the lower pH range was obtained by introducing a correction factor in the competitive adsorption model to account for these changes.