Multicomponent adsorption of pentavalent As, Sb and P onto iron-coated cork granulates

Ariana M A Pintor; Cátia C Brandão; Rui A R Boaventura; Cidália M S Botelho

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124339

Multicomponent adsorption of pentavalent As, Sb and P onto iron-coated cork granulates

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Mar 15:406:124339. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124339. Epub 2020 Oct 22.

Authors

Ariana M A Pintor¹, Cátia C Brandão², Rui A R Boaventura², Cidália M S Botelho³

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering - Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials (LSRE-LCM), Departamento de Engenharia Química, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: ampintor@fe.up.pt.
² Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering - Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials (LSRE-LCM), Departamento de Engenharia Química, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
³ Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering - Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials (LSRE-LCM), Departamento de Engenharia Química, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: cbotelho@fe.up.pt.

PMID: 33131944
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124339

Abstract

The assessment of multicomponent adsorption of pentavalent metalloids is important since they are often found together in groundwaters and mining runoff. For this purpose, adsorption of As(V), Sb(V) and P(V) onto iron-coated cork granulates was studied in binary and ternary systems. Data from equilibrium and kinetic studies revealed that uptake of these contaminants is a multilayer, heterogeneous process well described by Freundlich, extended Freundlich and Elovich models. Most of the observed interactions are competitive and were related to the chemical structure and aqueous behaviour of each anion. Sb(V) adsorption was found to be most impaired and P(V) uptake the least affected by the presence of other pentavalent anions. The aggravation in the reduction of adsorbed amount from binary to ternary solution was more prominent for As(V) than Sb(V). Sb(V) adsorption outweighed that of the other pnictogens in acidic solutions, but in neutral conditions As(V) or P(V) adsorption may predominate instead. P(V) adsorption was the most sensitive to electrolyte addition, namely Ca salts, which may promote precipitation of calcium phosphates. This work provides useful insights regarding the design of adequate adsorption treatment systems for the simultaneous treatment of pentavalent metalloids.

Keywords: Antimony; Arsenic; Competitive adsorption; Phosphorus; Pnictogens.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't