Adsorption kinetic and equilibrium study for removal of mercuric chloride by CuCl2-impregnated activated carbon sorbent

Abstract

The intrinsic adsorption kinetics of mercuric chloride (HgCl2) was studied for raw, 4% and 10% CuCl2-impregnated activated carbon (CuCl2-AC) sorbents in a fixed-bed system. An HgCl2 adsorption kinetic model was developed for the AC sorbents by taking into account the adsorption kinetics, equilibrium, and internal and external mass transfer. The adsorption kinetic constants determined from the comparisons between the simulation and experimental results were 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5m(3)/(gs) for DARCO-HG, 4%(wt), and 10%(wt) CuCl2-AC sorbents, respectively, at 140 °C. CuCl2 loading was found to slightly increase the adsorption kinetic constant or at least not to decrease it. The HgCl2 equilibrium adsorption data based on the Langmuir isotherm show that high CuCl2 loading can result in high binding energy of the HgCl2 adsorption onto the carbon surface. The adsorption equilibrium constant was found to increase by ~10 times when CuCl2 loading varied from 0 to 10%(wt), which led to a decrease in the desorption kinetic constant (k2) by ~10 times and subsequently the desorption rate by ~50 times. Intraparticle pore diffusion considered in the model showed good accuracy, allowing for the determination of intrinsic HgCl2 adsorption kinetics.