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Impregnated Activated Carbons with Binary Oxides of Iron-Manganese for Efficient Cr(VI) Removal from Water

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Abstract

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is the most hazardous and toxic oxidation state of chromium and for this reason, its effective removal from water below the drinking water limits is a major issue. Adsorption is a very promising technology, among several techniques, and activated carbon is a common adsorbent material, used for water treatment, due to its extensive surface area and porosity. In the last years, emerging composite adsorbents containing two or more metal oxides have gained significant attention. However, there are few publications related to the application of modified activated carbon with a combination of iron and manganese or copper oxides, to remove Cr(VI) from water, which is why these materials are the focus of this research. The effect of pH value, contact time, and initial Cr(VI) concentration was examined with respect to Cr(VI) removal. The results indicated that the maximum Cr(VI) removal was observed at pH 3 with 3 h contact time. The most effective adsorbent was the NFM material (Fe–Mn modified carbon) where a substantial quantitative removal of Cr(VI) (99.7%) was observed. Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetic models fitted the experimental data sufficiently. The maximum adsorption capacity for NFM found was 44.42 mg/g by using the Langmuir model. Finally, the structure of the formed modified adsorbents materials was studied by the application of BET and SEM characterization techniques.

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Data Availability

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

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Funding

Funding from the European Union’s H2020-MSCA-RISE-2016/under REA grant agreement No. 734641-NanoMed is greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Technology, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Athanasia K. Tolkou & George P. Gallios

  2. Institute of Geotechnics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 45, 040 01, Kosice, Slovakia

    Miroslava Vaclavikova

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  1. Athanasia K. Tolkou
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  2. Miroslava Vaclavikova
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  3. George P. Gallios
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Athanasia K. Tolkou, Miroslava Vaclavikova, and George P. Gallios. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Athanasia K. Tolkou and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Athanasia K. Tolkou.

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Tolkou, A.K., Vaclavikova, M. & Gallios, G.P. Impregnated Activated Carbons with Binary Oxides of Iron-Manganese for Efficient Cr(VI) Removal from Water. Water Air Soil Pollut 233, 343 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-022-05826-z

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