Mercury Removing Capacity of Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes as Detected by Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy: Kinetic & Equilibrium Studies

Authors: Yasser M. Moustafa, Rania E. Morsi, Mohammed Fathy

Abstract:

Multiwall carbon nanotubes, prepared by chemical vapor deposition, have an average diameter of 60-100 nm as shown by High Resolution Transmittance Electron Microscope, HR-TEM. The Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were further characterized using X-ray Diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy. Mercury uptake capacity of MWCNTs was studied using batch adsorption method at different concentration ranges up to 150 ppm. Mercury concentration (before and after the treatment) was measured using cold vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy. The effect of time, concentration, pH and adsorbent dose were studied. MWCNT were found to perform complete absorption in the sub-ppm concentrations (parts per billion levels) while for high concentrations, the adsorption efficiency was 92% at the optimum conditions; 0.1 g of the adsorbent at 150 ppm mercury (II) solution. The adsorption of mercury on MWCNTs was found to follow the Freundlich adsorption isotherm and the pseudo-second order kinetic model.

Keywords: Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Hydride System, Mercury Removing, Multi Wall Carbon Nanotubes.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1097036

References:

[1] S. Bernard, a Enayati, L. Redwood, H. Roger, and T. Binstock, “Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning.,” Med. Hypotheses, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 462–71, Apr. 2001.
[2] “U.S. EPA, Mercury Study Report to Congress, EPA 452, Executive Summary, EPA OAQPS/ORD, 1997, pp. R97–R105.”
[3] W. F. Fitzgerald, D. R. Engstrom, R. P. Mason, and E. A. Nater, “The case for atmospheric mercury contamination in remote areas,” Environ. Sci. Technol., vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 1–7, 1998.
[4] P. L. Bidstrup, “Toxicity of Mercury and its Compounds.” Toxic. Mercur. its Compd., 1964.
[5] K. Kadirvelu, M. Kavipriya, C. Karthika, N. Vennilamani, and S. Pattabhi, “Mercury (II) adsorption by activated carbon made from sago waste,” Carbon, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 745–752, 2004.
[6] “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Environment Canada. 1999. Update: Binational Toxics Strategy – Mercury Sources and Regulations.”
[7] “U.S. EPA. 2005. Great Lakes Pollution Prevention and Toxics Strategy. Background Information on Mercury Sources and Regulations.”
[8] C. F. Forster and D. A. Wase, “Biosorbents for metal ions,” 1997.
[9] J. C. a. de Wuilloud, R. G. Wuilloud, R. a. Olsina, and L. D. Martinez, “Separation and pre-concentration of inorganic and organo-mercury species in water samples using a selective reagent and an anion exchange resin and determination by flow injection-cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry,” J. Anal. At. Spectrom., vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 389– 394, Apr. 2002.
[10] J. L. Capelo, C. D. Dos Reis, C. Maduro, and a Mota, “Tandem focused ultrasound (TFU) combined with fast furnace analysis as an improved methodology for total mercury determination in human urine by electrothermal-atomic absorption spectrometry” Talanta, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 217–23, Sep. 2004.
[11] D. P. Torres, M. A. Vieira, A. S. Ribeiro, and A. J. Curtius, “Determination of inorganic and total mercury in biological samples treated with tetramethylammonium hydroxide by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry using different temperatures in the quartz cell,” J. Anal. At. Spectrom., vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 289–294, 2005.
[12] B. Welz, “Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (2nd edn.) VCH,” New York, p. 279, 1985.
[13] L. Malachowski, J. L. Stair, and J. A. Holcombe, “Immobilized peptides/amino acids on solid supports for metal remediation,” Pure Appl. Chem., vol. 76, no. 4, pp. 777–787, 2004.
[14] S. Dutta, A. Bhattacharyya, P. De, P. Ray, and S. Basu, “Removal of mercury from its aqueous solution using charcoal-immobilized papain (CIP).,”J. Hazard. Mater., vol. 172, no. 2–3. pp. 888–96, 30-Dec-2009.
[15] I. Ghodbane and O. Hamdaoui, “Removal of mercury (II) from aqueous media using eucalyptus bark: kinetic and equilibrium studies,” J. Hazard. Mater., vol. 160, no. 2, pp. 301–309, 2008.
[16] K. Anoop Krishnan and T. S. Anirudhan, “Removal of mercury(II) from aqueous solutions and chlor-alkali industry effluent by steam activated and sulphurised activated carbons prepared from bagasse pith: kinetics and equilibrium studies.,” J. Hazard. Mater., vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 161–83, May 2002.
[17] M. B. Lohani, A. Singh, D. C. Rupainwar, and D. N. Dhar, “Studies on efficiency of guava (Psidiumguajava) bark as bioadsorbent for removal of Hg (II) from aqueous solutions.,” J. Hazard. Mater., vol. 159, no. 2– 3, pp. 626–9, Nov. 2008.
[18] F. Di Natale, a Lancia, a Molino, M. Di Natale, D. Karatza, and D. Musmarra, “Capture of mercury ions by natural and industrial materials.,” J. Hazard. Mater., vol. 132, no. 2–3, pp. 220–5, May 2006.
[19] S. W. Al Rmalli, A. a Dahmani, M. M. Abuein, and A. a Gleza, “Biosorption of mercury from aqueous solutions by powdered leaves of castor tree (Ricinuscommunis L.),” J. Hazard. Mater., vol. 152, no. 3, pp. 955–9, Apr. 2008.
[20] M. Velicu, H. Fu, R. P. S. Suri, and K. Woods, “Use of adsorption process to remove organic mercury thimerosal from industrial process wastewater.” J. Hazard. Mater.,vol. 148, no. 3. pp. 599–605, 30-Sep- 2007.
[21] T. Masciangioli and W. Zhang, “Environmental nanotechnology: Potential and pitfalls,” Environ. Sci. Technol, vol. 37, p. 102A–108A, 2003.
[22] N. Savage and M. S. Diallo, “Nanomaterials and water purification: opportunities and challenges,” J. Nanoparticle Res., vol. 7, no. 4–5, pp. 331–342, 2005.
[23] R. Saito, M. Fujita, G. Dresselhaus, and u M. S. Dresselhaus, “Electronic structure of chiral graphene tubules,” Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 60, no. 18, pp. 2204–2206, 1992.
[24] C. Dekker, “Carbon nanotubes as molecular quantum wires,” Phys. Today, vol. 52, pp. 22–30, 1999.
[25] M. Meyyappan and D. Srivastava, “Carbon Nanotube: A Big Revolution in a Technology that Thinks Very, Very, Very Small,” IEEE Potentials, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 16–18, 2000.
[26] C. P. Nanseu-Njiki, S. R. Tchamango, P. C. Ngom, A. Darchen, and E. Ngameni, “Mercury (II) removal from water by electrocoagulation using aluminium and iron electrodes,” J. Hazard. Mater., vol. 168, no. 2, pp. 1430–1436, 2009.
[27] Y.-H. Li, S. Wang, J. Wei, X. Zhang, C. Xu, Z. Luan, D. Wu, and B. Wei, “Lead adsorption on carbon nanotubes,” Chem. Phys. Lett., vol. 357, no. 3–4, pp. 263–266, May 2002.
[28] J. Li, S. Chen, G. Sheng, J. Hu, X. Tan, and X. Wang, “Effect of surfactants on Pb(II) adsorption from aqueous solutions using oxidized multiwall carbon nanotubes,” Chem. Eng. J., vol. 166, no. 2, pp. 551– 558, Jan. 2011.
[29] Y.-H. Li, S. Wang, X. Zhang, J. Wei, C. Xu, Z. Luan, and D. Wu, “Adsorption of fluoride from water by aligned carbon nanotubes,” Mater. Res. Bull., vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 469–476, 2003.
[30] Y.-H. Li, S. Wang, Z. Luan, J. Ding, C. Xu, and D. Wu, “Adsorption of cadmium (II) from aqueous solution by surface oxidized carbon nanotubes,” Carbon N. Y., vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 1057–1062, 2003.
[31] C. Lu and H. Chiu, “Adsorption of zinc(II) from water with purified carbon nanotubes,” Chem. Eng. Sci., vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 1138–1145, Feb. 2006.
[32] D. Shao, Z. Jiang, X. Wang, J. Li, and Y. Meng, “Plasma induced grafting carboxymethyl cellulose on multiwalled carbon nanotubes for the removal of UO2 2+ from aqueous solution,” J. Phys. Chem. B, vol. 113, no. 4, pp. 860–864, 2009.
[33] H. Chen, J. Li, D. Shao, X. Ren, and X. Wang, “Poly (acrylic acid) grafted multiwall carbon nanotubes by plasma techniques for Co (II) removal from aqueous solution,” Chem. Eng. J., vol. 210, pp. 475–481, 2012.
[34] C. L. Chen, X. K. Wang, and M. Nagatsu, “Europium Adsorption on Multiwall Carbon Nanotube/Iron Oxide Magnetic Composite in the Presence of Polyacrylic Acid,” Environ. Sci. Technol., vol. 43, no. 7, pp. 2362–2367, Feb. 2009.
[35] M. I. Kandah and J.-L. Meunier, “Removal of nickel ions from water by multi-walled carbon nanotubes.,” J. Hazard. Mater., vol. 146, no. 1–2, pp. 283–8, Jul. 2007.
[36] M. J. Shadbad, A. Mohebbi, and A. Soltani, “Mercury(II) removal from aqueous solutions by adsorption on multi-walled carbon nanotubes,” Korean J. Chem. Eng., vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 1029–1034, Mar. 2011.
[37] W. Li, C. Liang, W. Zhou, J. Qiu, Z. Zhou, G. Sun, and Q. Xin, “Preparation and characterization of multiwalled carbon nanotube-supported platinum for cathode catalysts of direct methanol fuel cells,” J. Phys. Chem. B, vol. 107, no. 26, pp. 6292–6299, 2003.
[38] I. Stamatin, A. Morozan, A. Dumitru, V. Ciupina, G. Prodan, J. Niewolski, and H. Figiel, “The synthesis of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) by catalytic pyrolysis of the phenol-formaldehyde resins,” Phys. E Low-dimensional Syst. Nanostructures, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 44–48, 2007.
[39] L. Bokobza and J. Zhang, “Raman spectroscopic characterization of multiwall carbon nanotubes and of composites.” Express Polym. Lett., vol. 6, no. 7, 2012.
[40] R. Leyva Ramos, L. A. Bernal Jacome, J. Mendoza Barron, L. Fuentes Rubio, and R. M. Guerrero Coronado, “Adsorption of zinc (II) from an aqueous solution onto activated carbon,” J. Hazard. Mater., vol. 90, no. 1, pp. 27–38, 2002.
[41] D. Mohan, V. K. Gupta, S. K. Srivastava, and S. Chander, “Kinetics of mercury adsorption from wastewater using activated carbon derived from fertilizer waste,” Colloids Surfaces A Physicochem. Eng. Asp., vol. 177, no. 2, pp. 169–181, 2000.
[42] M. Zabihi, A. Ahmadpour, and A. H. Asl, “Removal of mercury from water by carbonaceous sorbents derived from walnut shell,” J. Hazard. Mater., vol. 167, no. 1, pp. 230–236, 2009.
[43] C. Jeon and K. Ha Park, “Adsorption and desorption characteristics of mercury (II) ions using aminated chitosan bead,” Water Res., vol. 39, no. 16, pp. 3938–3944, 2005.
[44] D. Tiwari, “Biomass-derived materials in the remediation of heavymetal contaminated water: Removal of cadmium (II) and copper (II) from aqueous solutions,” Water Environ. Res., vol. 83, no. 9, pp. 874– 881, 2011.
[45] F. J. Cerino-Córdova, A. M. García-León, E. Soto-Regalado, M. N. Sánchez-González, T. Lozano-Ramírez, B. C. García-Avalos, and J. A. Loredo-Medrano, “Experimental design for the optimization of copper biosorption from aqueous solution by Aspergillus-terreus,” J. Environ. Manage.,vol. 95, pp. S77–S82, 2012.
[46] N. Li and R. Bai, “Copper adsorption on chitosan–cellulose hydrogel beads: behaviors and mechanisms,” Sep. Purif. Technol., vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 237–247, 2005.
[47] I. Langmuir, “The adsorption of gases on plane surfaces of glass, mica and platinum.,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 1361–1403, 1918.
[48] F. H. Uber, “Die adsorption in losungen,” Z. Phys. Chem, vol. 57, pp. 387–470, 1985.
[49] M. I. Temkin and V. Pyzhev, “Kinetics of ammonia synthesis on promoted iron catalysts,” Actaphysiochim. URSS, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 217–222, 1940.
[50] M. M. Dubinin, E. D. Zaverina, and L. V Radushkevich, “Sorption and structure of active carbons. I. Adsorption of organic vapors,” ZhurnalFiz. Khimii, vol. 21, pp. 1351–1362, 1947.