Journal of Geology & Geophysics
Open Access
ISSN: 2381-8719
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2381-8719
+44 1478 350008
Sayan Bhattacharya1,2, Kaushik Gupta1 and Uday Chand Ghosh1
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Geol Geosci
Arsenic is a metalloid of great environmental concern because of its highly toxic nature and colossal abundance. For the mitigation of arsenic contamination, several technologies such as oxidation-precipitation, coagulation, precipitation, membrane filtration, surface sorption and ion exchange have been applied for the treatment of the contaminated water. Among them, the surface sorption method has been accepted well for its simple operation procedure, low recurring cost, very high removal efficiency, and little byproducts. The objective of the present study was the synthesis and characterization of nano-structured cerium aluminium mixed oxide and its arsenic(V) sorption behavior from the aqueous solution. Two solutions of ammonium ceric nitrate and aluminium chloride were mixed in 1:1 mole proportions and the material was prepared by the method of chemical precipitation. The material was characterized in Scanning Electron Microscope, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope, Transmission Electron Microscope, Atomic Force Microscope, X Ray Diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis and Raman Spectra analysis. Batch method was used for the As(V) sorption kinetics. The isotherm experiments were conducted separately at temperatures 288K, 303K, 318K at pH 7.0 (±0.2) by batch sorption procedure. The oxide surface was rough and crystalline in nature. From the TEM analysis, it was found that the material was agglomeration of particles of 40-90 nm. The presence of nanoparticles in TEM image could indicate high surface to volume ratio of the material, which can be useful for adsorption purpose. In the study of kinetics of arsenic(V) sorption, the sorption percentage remained almost unchanged upto pH=9.0. After that, a small decrease in sorption percentage was observed. The equilibrium data were analyzed by the Langmuir and the Freundlich isotherm models, which are usually used to describe the equilibrium sorption data. It was found that the Langmuir model was the best fit model for the sorption reaction. The Ce-Al binary oxide was very much effective in removing As(V) from water within wide range of pH. The monolayer sorption capacity of the binary oxide was quite comparable to the other As(V) adsorbents reported previously. Thus the present oxide could easily be utilized as a sorbent for arsenic removal from arsenic contaminated ground water.