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Functionalized silica xerogels for adsorption of heavy metals from groundwater and soils

  • Invited Paper: Nano- and macroporous materials (aerogels, xerogels, cryogels, etc.)
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Abstract

Heavy metals occur naturally but are released into the environment in large amounts by human activity, reaching dangerous concentrations. Both in aqueous media and soils, these can be found as dissolved cations. Adsorption was shown to be an effective mechanism to remove heavy metals presented in this form. Two new adsorbents, mercapto and amine-mercapto-functionalized silica xerogels (M and AM), have been synthesized using sol–gel chemistry to decontaminate the above mentioned polluted media. Their adsorption capacity has been tested in batch equilibrium and kinetic adsorption tests with single-cation aqueous solutions of copper and lead. It was found that both adsorbents remove the cations from solution but it is the amine-mercapto xerogel, the one with the highest uptake for the metals, reaching a capacity of 125 mg/g for Pb and 140 mg/g for Cu when the initial concentration of the cations is 500 ppm. Kinetic studies showed that the removal process is fast, with most of the cation being removed in the first 20 min of the process (60% for lead and 80% for Cu). The combination of equilibrium and kinetic results evinces that the adsorption of both copper and lead by mercapto and amine-mercapto xerogels happens predominantly as monolayer chemisorption.

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Acknowledgements

Work developed under the project “AeroMCatch—Silica Aerogels for Remediation of Soils Contaminated with Heavy Metals” (Process No 141735), by João Vareda and University of Coimbra, funded by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal), through the “Programa de Estímulo à Investigação 2015”. The authors gratefully acknowledge the fruitful discussion with Prof. Artur Valente (Dept. of Chemistry of University of Coimbra) on the chemical interactions/reactions of the functional groups of the xerogels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIEPQPF, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Rua Sílvio Lima, 3030-790, Coimbra, Portugal

    João P. Vareda & Luisa Durães

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  1. João P. Vareda
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  2. Luisa Durães
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Correspondence to Luisa Durães.

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Vareda, J.P., Durães, L. Functionalized silica xerogels for adsorption of heavy metals from groundwater and soils. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 84, 400–408 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-017-4326-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-017-4326-y

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