Kinetics of Cadmium Removal from Aqueous Solutions by Iron-enriched Biochar

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Soils and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Egypt

2 Soil and Water Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Banha University, Banha, Egypt.

3 Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring, National Water Research Centre, Elkantir, Egypt

4 Soils and Water department, faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Egypt

5 Soils and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University

Abstract

CADMIUM (Cd) is one of the most toxic elements in the environment. Its hazards are widely reported in many areas around the world, especially in Asia. Probably, contaminated water is the main routes of Cd toxicity to the living organisms. Thus, the current study investigates the efficiency of using biochar enriched with Fe for removal of Cd from artificially contaminated water and its kinetics. Accordingly, sugarcane bagasse was collected from the nearby juice bars and used for preparation of biochar. Afterwards, this product was submersed in ammonium ferrous sulphate solution (1000 mg L-1 ) for 5 h and washed thoroughly with distilled water to removed unreacted Fe2+. Subsequently, a batch technique was followed under lab conditions to find out the feasibility of using this type of biochar for removal of Cd from artificially contaminated water (56.5 mg Cd L-1) within short time periods of contact extended to 360 min. A rapid initial increase occurred in sorbed Cd on surfaces of biochar enriched with Fe within the first 60 min of application; thereafter Cd sorption remained apparently constant. This sorption followed the power function model and the removal efficiency of Cd in this case did not exceed 46% of soluble Cd concentrations. In conclusion, biochar enriched with Fe might not be enough solely to attain successful removal of Cd from wastewaters.

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