SYNTHESIS AND APPLICATION OF IRON-OXIDE NANO PARTICLES COATED SAND (IONCS) FOR THE REMOVAL OF COPPER (CU) AND CHROMIUM (CR) FROM INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENT

Wastewater containing heavy metal ions is considered as the serious environmental problem, these have high toxic and non-biodegradable properties, which can cause severe health problems in animals and human beings. This study describes the removal of several toxic heavy metal ions i.e., Copper (Cu) and Chromium (Cr) from Industrial wastewater using Iron oxide nanoparticles coated on sand (IONCS). IONCS was prepared by the Co-precipitation method. For the purpose, locally available sand was used with prior acid activation. The IONCS sample was characterized by SEM and EDX analytical methods. The effects of different factors such as pH, contact time, amount of adsorbent, and adsorption capacity of IONCS for Cu and Cr removal were investigated. Under the optimum conditions nearly 99.88% and 100% copper and chromium removal was achieved respectively at alkaline pH condition from an industrial wastewater with initial concentration of 226.3 mg/L and 118.5 mg/L by IONCS within 105 min. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms were investigated. Results suggest that the Langmuir isotherm is more adequate than the Freundlich isotherm in simulating the adsorption isotherm. The adsorption capacity of the synthesized sorbent for Copper and Chromium were calculated from Langmuir adsorption isotherms in batch experiments was 3.15 mg/g (R2 = 1) and 1.63 mg/g (R2 = 1), and the IONCS adsorption rate constant is 29.15 L/mg and 36 L/mg respectively. The adsorption kinetic features of Cu and Cr ions were found to be fitted best by a pseudo-first-order model, suggesting the presence of physisorption processes. These findings indicate that the adsorption property of IONCS has a great potential for removal of heavy metals from wastewater.