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Removal of Aqueous Nickel (II) Using Laterite as a Low‐Cost Adsorbent
Author(s) -
Mukherjee Somnath,
Kumar Sunil,
Misra A. K.,
Acharya P. C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143005x78663
Subject(s) - laterite , adsorption , nickel , aqueous solution , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , waste management , organic chemistry , engineering
The present paper describes the laboratory study of laterite as a low‐cost adsorbent for removal of aqueous nickel (II). At pH 7 and a temperature of 30°C, a sorbent dose of 15 mg/L resulted in approximately 90% removal of nickel (II) from its initial concentration of 10 mg/L. A maximum removal of 98% of the adsorbate was observed with an adsorbent particle size of 210 μ with the above conditions. Batch kinetics results were described by fitting in a Langmuir isotherm. Helffrich's half‐time equation (Helffrich, 1962) has been applied to evaluate the adsorption process. It appears that film diffusion would be the rate‐limiting step. The effect of pH on the sorption process was carried out to a value of 8.0. The removal rate of nickel was found to be the function of pH of the reaction mixture. The rate of nickel uptake by laterite with the decrease in pH value has been explained on the basis of aqueous‐complex formation and the subsequent acid‐base dissociation at the solid‐solution interface.