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Adsorptive removal of five heavy metals from water using blast furnace slag and fly ash

  • Water: From Pollution to Purification
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Abstract

Heavy metals can be serious pollutants of natural water bodies causing health risks to humans and aquatic organisms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the removal of five heavy metals from water by adsorption onto an iron industry blast furnace slag waste (point of zero charge (PZC) pH 6.0; main constituents, Ca and Fe) and a coal industry fly ash waste (PZC 3.0; main constituents, Si and Al). Batch study revealed that rising pH increased the adsorption of all metals with an abrupt increase at pH 4.0–7.0. The Langmuir adsorption maximum for fly ash at pH 6.5 was 3.4–5.1 mg/g with the adsorption capacity for the metals being in the order Pb > Cu > Cd, Zn, Cr. The corresponding values for furnace slag were 4.3 to 5.2 mg/g, and the order of adsorption capacities was Pb, Cu, Cd > Cr > Zn. Fixed-bed column study on furnace slag/sand mixture (1:1 w/w) revealed that the adsorption capacities were generally less in the mixed metal system (1.1–2.1 mg/g) than in the single metal system (3.4–3.5 mg/g). The data for both systems fitted well to the Thomas model, with the adsorption capacity being the highest for Pb and Cu in the single metal system and Pb and Cd in the mixed metal system. Our study showed that fly ash and blast furnace slag are effective low-cost adsorbents for the simultaneous removal of Pb, Cu, Cd, Cr and Zn from water.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Ash Development Association of Australia Inc. for providing fly ash and Australasian (iron and steel) Slag Association (ASA) for providing blast furnace slag for the study. This study was funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE) (project number 02-050-07).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Thuy Chung Nguyen, Paripurnanda Loganathan, Tien Vinh Nguyen, Jaya Kandasamy & Saravanamuthu Vigneswaran

  2. CRC CARE, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Ravi Naidu

Authors
  1. Thuy Chung Nguyen
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  2. Paripurnanda Loganathan
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  3. Tien Vinh Nguyen
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  4. Jaya Kandasamy
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  5. Ravi Naidu
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  6. Saravanamuthu Vigneswaran
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Correspondence to Saravanamuthu Vigneswaran.

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Responsible editor: Guilherme L. Dotto

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Nguyen, T.C., Loganathan, P., Nguyen, T.V. et al. Adsorptive removal of five heavy metals from water using blast furnace slag and fly ash. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 20430–20438 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9610-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9610-4

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