Pb2+ removal from aqueous synthetic solutions by calcium alginate and chitosan coated calcium alginate

This research study deals with lead(II)/Pb2+ removal from aqueous solutions by calcium alginate (CA) and chitosan coated calcium alginate (CCCA) as adsorbents, in batch experiments. A simple synthesis method was used to prepare both adsorbent materials. CA and CCCA were characterized using infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). The main parameters determining the quantity of lead(II) ions adsorbed are: the initial pH solution, the lead(II)ions initial concentration and the temperature. The experiments revealed that the adsorption capacity, thus, the removal efficiency are higher for CCCA compared to CA. The adsorption of lead(II) ions onto both CA and CCCA materials is an endothermic spontaneous process, as resulted from the thermodynamic experiments. Consequently, a moderate increase of temperature improves the adsorption capacity. The thermodynamic equilibrium sorption experimental data are well fitted by Freundlich adsorption isotherm for both tested adsorbents, better than Langmuir's. Accordingly, lead(II) ions adsorption onto CA and CCCA develops obeying a multilayer mechanism. The kinetic experimental data were fitted by both pseudo-first, and pseudo-second order models. The former approaches better the experimental results for both adsorbents. The mechanism involved in lead removal is a combination between ion-exchange and coordination/chelation based on experimental results. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.