Mechanochemically Synthesised Coal-Based Magnetic Carbon Composites for Removing As(V) and Cd(II) from Aqueous Solutions

The continued decrease in water quality requires new advances in the treatment of wastewater, including the preparation of novel, effective, environmentally friendly, and affordable sorbents of toxic pollutants. We introduce a simple non-conventional mechanochemical synthesis of magnetically responsive materials. Magnetic lignite and magnetic char were prepared by high-energy ball co-milling from either raw Slovak lignite or coal-based char together with a ferrofluid. The products were characterised by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), volumetric magnetic susceptibility, and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption, and both magnetic carbons were comparatively tested as potential sorbents of As(V) oxyanions and Cd(II) cations in aqueous solutions. The magnetic char was an excellent sorbent of As(V) oxyanions (Q_m = 19.9 mg/g at pH 3.9), whereas the magnetic lignite was less effective. The different sorption properties towards arsenic anions may have been due to different oxidation states of iron on the surfaces of the two magnetic composites (determined by XPS), although the overall state of iron monitored by Mössbauer spectroscopy was similar for both samples. Both magnetic composites were effective sorbents for removing Cd(II) cations (Q_m (magnetic lignite) = 70.4 mg/g at pH 6.5; Q_m (magnetic char) = 58.8 mg/g at pH 6.8).