Sorption of Bi³⁺ from acidic solutions using nano-hydroxyapatite extracted from Persian corals

Abstract

Nano-crystallite hydroxyapatite (nano-HAp) synthesized from Persian corals was used for removing Bi³⁺ from acidic aqueous solutions. The effects of initial concentration, adsorbent dosage, contact time and temperature were studied in batch experiments. The sorption of Bi³⁺ by nano-HAp increased as the initial concentration of bismuth ion increased in the medium. The pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion kinetic models were applied to study the kinetics of the sorption processes. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model provided the best correlation (R ² > 0.999) of the used experimental data compared to the pseudo-first-order and intraparticle diffusion kinetic models. Various thermodynamic parameters, such as $\Updelta G^\circ$, $\Updelta H^\circ$ and $\Updelta S^\circ$ were calculated. Thermodynamics of Bi³⁺ cation sorption onto nano-HAp system pointed at spontaneous and endothermic nature of the process. The maximum Bi³⁺ adsorbed was found to be 3,333.33 mg g⁻¹. It was found that the sorption of Bi³⁺ on nano-HAp correlated well (R ² = 0.979) with the Langmuir equation as compared to Freundlich and Dubinin–Kaganer–Radushkevich (D-K-R) isotherm equations under the concentration range studied. This study indicated that nano-HAp extracted from Persian corals could be used as an efficient adsorbent for removal of Bi³⁺ from acidic aqueous solution.