Removal of Ni(II) and Zn(II)
from Aqueous Media Using
Algae-Sodium Bentonite Nanocomposite
Tanveer Rasool and Waris Baba
Abstract The composite made by mixing dead Spirogyra algal biomass with nanobentonite clay, was used to study the adsorption of Ni(II) and Zn(II) as a function of
pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage and initial ion concentration. An average crystal
size of the composite synthesized was found to be 34.11 nm. The optimum temperature for maximum adsorption was found at 328 and 313 K for Ni(II) and Zn(II),
respectively, in the pH range of 5–6. The results were achieved for the absorbent
dosage between 0.1–0.3 gms per 100 ml of the solution. A decreasing trend was
observed for adsorption capacity by the composite with maximum value at 0.1 gm
dosage for both the metal ions. In contrary, an increasing trend in adsorption was
observed in the concentration range while changing the metal ion concentration from
25 to 150 mg/l. Within the range of optimized parameters calculated, the maximum
percentage recovery was found to be 108.67 mg/g (81%) and 100.78 mg/g (77%)
for Ni(II) and Zn(II), respectively. Langmuir adsorption isotherm and pseudo second order models were best fit for equilibrium data, highlighting the potential of
Algae-bentonite composite as possible feed stock for adsorption of heavy metals
from aqueous media.
Keywords Nano composite · Adsorption · Algae · Optimization
1 Introduction
The rapid rise in the industrialization and urbanization have coupled itself with the
serious environmental pollution causing serious threat to humanity at large. Heavy
metals present in effluents and chemicals from industries above a certain permissible
limit are known for their high toxicity and serious public health issues (Freitas et al.
2008). Some of the common heavy metals reported are mercury, lead, arsenic, cobalt,
chromium, nickel, zinc, manganese, selenium, antimony etc. (Ngah et al. 2011). Their
biological accumulation brings out many chronic issues and have a direct impact on
T. Rasool (B) · W. Baba
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Srinagar, Srinagar
190006, Jammu & Kashmir, India
e-mail: tanveer@nitsri.net
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Ledwani and J. S. Sangwai (eds.), Nanotechnology for Energy and Environmental
Engineering, Green Energy and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33774-2_24
561
from Aqueous Media Using
Algae-Sodium Bentonite Nanocomposite
Tanveer Rasool and Waris Baba
Abstract The composite made by mixing dead Spirogyra algal biomass with nanobentonite clay, was used to study the adsorption of Ni(II) and Zn(II) as a function of
pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage and initial ion concentration. An average crystal
size of the composite synthesized was found to be 34.11 nm. The optimum temperature for maximum adsorption was found at 328 and 313 K for Ni(II) and Zn(II),
respectively, in the pH range of 5–6. The results were achieved for the absorbent
dosage between 0.1–0.3 gms per 100 ml of the solution. A decreasing trend was
observed for adsorption capacity by the composite with maximum value at 0.1 gm
dosage for both the metal ions. In contrary, an increasing trend in adsorption was
observed in the concentration range while changing the metal ion concentration from
25 to 150 mg/l. Within the range of optimized parameters calculated, the maximum
percentage recovery was found to be 108.67 mg/g (81%) and 100.78 mg/g (77%)
for Ni(II) and Zn(II), respectively. Langmuir adsorption isotherm and pseudo second order models were best fit for equilibrium data, highlighting the potential of
Algae-bentonite composite as possible feed stock for adsorption of heavy metals
from aqueous media.
Keywords Nano composite · Adsorption · Algae · Optimization
1 Introduction
The rapid rise in the industrialization and urbanization have coupled itself with the
serious environmental pollution causing serious threat to humanity at large. Heavy
metals present in effluents and chemicals from industries above a certain permissible
limit are known for their high toxicity and serious public health issues (Freitas et al.
2008). Some of the common heavy metals reported are mercury, lead, arsenic, cobalt,
chromium, nickel, zinc, manganese, selenium, antimony etc. (Ngah et al. 2011). Their
biological accumulation brings out many chronic issues and have a direct impact on
T. Rasool (B) · W. Baba
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Srinagar, Srinagar
190006, Jammu & Kashmir, India
e-mail: tanveer@nitsri.net
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Ledwani and J. S. Sangwai (eds.), Nanotechnology for Energy and Environmental
Engineering, Green Energy and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33774-2_24
561