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Enhanced removal of aqueous Cr(VI) by the in situ iron loaded activated carbon through a facile impregnation with Fe(II) and Fe(VI) two step method: Mechanism study

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Abstract

In this study, a novel in situ iron-loaded activated carbon (AFPAC) was prepared by a FeSO4/K2FeO4 impregnation and oxidation combination two-step supported on activated carbon for enhanced removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions. Cr(VI) removal efficiency greatly increased by AFPAC more than 70% than that of fresh activated carbon (AC), which is due to rich iron oxides formed in situ and the synergistic effect between iron oxides and activated carbon. Cr(VI) adsorption behaviors on AFPAC under different water quality parameters were investigated. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities for Cr(VI) by AFPAC are as high as 26.24 mg/g, 28.65 mg/g, and 32.05 mg/g at 25 °C, 35 °C and 45 °C at pH 4, respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) results showed that the adsorption energy of K2Cr2O7 on the surface of FeOOH was − 2.52 eV, which was greater than that on the surface of bare AC, and more charge transfer occurred during the adsorption of K2Cr2O7 on the surface of FeOOH, greatly promoting the formation of Cr = O-Fe. Cr(VI) removal by AFPAC included electrostatic attraction, redox reaction, coordinate complexation, and co-precipitation. Cr(VI) adsorption process on AFPAC consisted of the three reaction steps: (1) AFPAC was fast protonation and Cr2O72− would electrostatically attract to the positively charged AFPAC surface. (2) Cr2O72− was reduced into Cr2O3 by the carbons bond to the oxygen functionalities on activated carbon and the redox reaction process of FeSO4 and K2FeO4. (3) The inner-sphere complexes were formed, and adsorbed on AFPAC by iron oxides and then co-precipitation.

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The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Science and Technology Department of Anhui Province (No.2008085QE242 and 2208085Y18), the Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment (Harbin Institute of Technology) (No.ES201917), Engineering Research Center of biomembrane water purification and utilization technology (BWPU2020KF08), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (51878001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, 243002, Anhui, China

    Yanli Kong, Zhiyan Huang, Hangyu Chu, Yaqian Ma, Jiangya Ma, Yong Nie & Lei Ding

  2. Engineering Research Center of Biomembrane Water Purification and Utilization Technology, Ministry of Education, Maanshan, 243002, Anhui, China

    Yanli Kong, Zhiyan Huang, Hangyu Chu, Jiangya Ma, Yong Nie & Lei Ding

  3. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resources and Environment, School of Municipal & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

    Zhonglin Chen & Jimin Shen

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  1. Yanli Kong
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Contributions

Yanli Kong: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, review, and editing.

Zhiyan Huang: data curation, formal analysis, visualization, and writing.

Hangyu Chu: formal analysis, visualization, and writing.

Yaqian Ma: formal analysis and data curation.

Jiangya Ma: resources, writing—review and editing, supervision, and data curation.

Yong Nie: resources, writing—review and editing and supervision.

Lei Ding: resources, writing—review and editing.

Zhonglin Chen: writing—review and editing.

Jimin Shen: writing— review and editing.

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Correspondence to Jiangya Ma.

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Kong, Y., Huang, Z., Chu, H. et al. Enhanced removal of aqueous Cr(VI) by the in situ iron loaded activated carbon through a facile impregnation with Fe(II) and Fe(VI) two step method: Mechanism study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 38480–38499 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24876-8

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