Issue 1, 2019, Issue in Progress

Super rapid removal of copper, cadmium and lead ions from water by NTA-silica gel

Abstract

Copper (Cu2+), cadmium (Cd2+) and lead ions (Pb2+) are toxic to human beings and other organisms. In this study, a silica gel material modified with nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA-silica gel) was sensibly designed and prepared via a simple amidation procedure for the removal of Cu2+, Cd2+ and Pb2+ from water. The NTA-silica gels showed rapid removal performances for the three metal ions (Pb2+ (<2 min), Cu2+ and Cd2+ (<20 min)) with relatively high adsorption capacities (63.5, 53.14 and 76.22 mg g−1 for Cu2+, Cd2+ and Pb2+, respectively). At the same concentration of 20 mg L−1, the removal efficiencies of the three metals by the adsorbent ranged from 96% to 99%. The Freundlich and Langmuir models were utilized to fit the adsorption isotherms. The adsorption kinetics for the three metal ions was pseudo-second-order kinetics. The removal performance of the NTA-silica gels increased in a wide pH range (2–9) and maintained in the presence of competitive metal ions (Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+ and Al3+) with different concentrations. In addition, the NTA-silica gels were easily regenerated (washed with 1% HNO3) and reused for 5 cycles with high adsorption capacity. This study indicates that the NTA-silica gel is a reusable adsorbent for the rapid, convenient, and efficient removal of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ from contaminated aquatic environments.

Graphical abstract: Super rapid removal of copper, cadmium and lead ions from water by NTA-silica gel

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Oct 2018
Accepted
30 Nov 2018
First published
02 Jan 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2019,9, 397-407

Super rapid removal of copper, cadmium and lead ions from water by NTA-silica gel

Y. Li, J. He, K. Zhang, T. Liu, Y. Hu, X. Chen, C. Wang, X. Huang, L. Kong and J. Liu, RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 397 DOI: 10.1039/C8RA08638A

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