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Cu(II) adsorption from aqueous solution using red mud activated by chemical and thermal treatment

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Abstract

Brazil is the third-largest producer of aluminium, with the red mud generated during the extraction of aluminium from bauxite through the Bayer process. The red mud has been studied for use as an adsorbent for removing of elements/compounds from wastewater and/or contaminated soil. However, there are several compounds and treatments that were not tested yet. In this study, the Cu(II) adsorption potential for natural red mud (NRN) and red mud activated by thermal treatment at 400 °C (TRM) and chemical treatment with hydrochloric acid (HCl) at 0.05 mol L−1 (CRM1) and calcium nitrate [Ca(NO3)2] 0.1 mol L−1 (CRM2) was evaluated using adsorption isotherms obtained by the Langmuir and Freundlich models. The NRM and TRM presented Cu(II) adsorptions of ca. 100 % in aqueous solution with lower concentrations of the metal (0.5 and 1.0 mmol 25 mL−1). The Langmuir isotherm was more appropriate to describe the phenomenon of Cu(II) removal using NRM, TRM, CRM1 and CRM2, with the thermally activated red mud presenting the highest adsorption capacity at 2.08 mmol g−1 for Cu(II). Thus, these results indicate that TRM has the potential for use in applications that treat effluents and/or contaminated soil from industrial activity.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, Process No. 2009/02374-0), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Process No. 480555/2009-5) and Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio (CBA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE), UNESP, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Avenida 24-A, No. 1515, Bela Vista, Rio Claro, São Paulo, CEP 13506-900, Brazil

    Fabiano T. da Conceição & Rodrigo Braga Moruzzi

  2. Faculdade de Engenharia de Bauru (FEB), UNESP, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Bauru, Brazil

    Beatriz C. Pichinelli & Mariana S. G. Silva

  3. Centro de Estudos Ambientais (CEA), UNESP, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, Brazil

    Amauri Antonio Menegário

  4. UNESP, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Campus Experimental de Sorocaba, Sorocaba, Brazil

    Maria Lucia Pereira Antunes

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  1. Fabiano T. da Conceição
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  2. Beatriz C. Pichinelli
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  3. Mariana S. G. Silva
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  4. Rodrigo Braga Moruzzi
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  5. Amauri Antonio Menegário
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  6. Maria Lucia Pereira Antunes
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Correspondence to Fabiano T. da Conceição.

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da Conceição, F.T., Pichinelli, B.C., Silva, M.S.G. et al. Cu(II) adsorption from aqueous solution using red mud activated by chemical and thermal treatment. Environ Earth Sci 75, 362 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4929-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4929-y

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