Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Synthesis and characterization of anthill-eggshell composite adsorbent for removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this study, adsorption behavior of anthill-eggshell composite (AEC) for the removal of hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) from aqueous solution was investigated. The raw AEC sample was thermally treated at 864 °C for 4 h and characterized using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) techniques. The effects of adsorption process variables including initial Cr6+ concentration, contact time, and adsorbent dosage on the Cr6+ removal efficiency were investigated using central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM). Equilibrium adsorption isotherm and kinetic were also studied. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the three variables proved to be significant and the optimum conditions for Cr6+ adsorption were obtained to be 150 mg/L initial Cr6+ concentration, 45.04-min contact time, and 0.5 g adsorbent dosage, which resulted in 86.21% of Cr6+ adsorbed. Equilibrium isotherm study showed that Freundlich model fitted well to the experimental data. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model appeared to better describe the experimental data. The study showed that mixed anthill-eggshell is a promising adsorbent for removing Cr6+ from aqueous solution.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akinwekomi AD, Omotoyinbo JA, Folorunso D (2012) Effect of high alumina cement on selected foundry properties of anthill clay. Leonardo Electron J Pract Technol 1:37–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Othman Z, Ali R, Naushat M (2012) Hexavalent chromium removal from aqueous medium by activated carbon prepared from peanut shell: adsorption kinetics, equilibrium and thermodynamic studies. Chem Eng J 184:238–247

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Darder M, López-Blanco M, Aranda P, Aznar AJ, Bravo J, Ruiz-Hitzky E (2006) Microfibrous chitosan—sepiolite nanocomposites. Chem Mater 18:1602–1610

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dousova B, Grygar T, Martaus T, Kolousek D, Machovic V (2009) Characterization of Fe-treated clays as effective adsorbent for Cr6+ removal from aqueous solution. J Hazard Mater 165:134–140

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ekanem SE (2017) Adsorption of copper ion from aqueous solution onto thermally treated eggshell: kinetic and equilibrium study. B. Eng Thesis, Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

  • Eletta OAA, Ajayi OA, Ogunleye OO, Akpan IC (2016) Adsorption of cyanide from aqueous solution using calcinated eggshells: equilibrium and optimization studies. J Environ Chem Eng 4:1367–1375

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fisli A, Krisnanandi YK, Gunlazuardi J (2017) Preparation and characterization of Fe2O3/SiO2/TiO2 composite for methylene blue removal in water. Int J Technol 1:76–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ganesan P, Kamaraj R, Sozhan G, Vasudevan S (2013) Oxidized multi walled carbon nanotube as adsorbent for the removal of manganese from aqueous solution. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20:987–996

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hameed BH, Krishni RR, Sata SA (2009) A novel agricultural waste adsorbent for the removal of cationic dye from aqueous solutions. J Hazard Mater 162:305–311

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ho YS, McKay G (1998) Kinetic models for the sorption of dye from aqueous solution by wood. Process Saf Environ Prot 76:332–340

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang YH, Huang GH, Chou S, Perng HS (2000) Process for chemically oxidizing wastewater with reduced sludge production. US Patent US6143182 Nov 2000

  • Jorfi S, Ahmadi MJ, Pourfadakari S, Jaafarzadeh N, Soltani RDC, Akbari H (2017) Adsorption of Cr(VI) by natural clinoptilolite zeolite from aqueous solution: isotherms and kinetics. Pol J Chem Technol 19:106–114

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kamaraj R, Ganesan P, Vasudevan S (2015) Removal of lead from aqueous solutions by electrocoagulation: isotherm, kinetics and thermodynamic studies. Int J Environ Sci Technol 12:683–692

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Khazaei M, Nasseri S, Ganjali MR, Khoob M, Nabizadeh R, Medhi AH, Nazmara S, Gholibegloo E (2016) Response surface modeling of lead (II) removal by graphene oxide-Fe3O4 nanocomposite using central composite design. J Environ Health Sci Eng 14:1–14

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Khuri AI, Mukhopadhyay S (2010) Response surface methodology. WIREs Computational Statistics, vol 2. Wiley, 128–149

  • Lim S, Lee AYW (2015) Kinetic study on removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution by using soil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22:10144–10158

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Malkoc E (2006) Ni(II) removal from aqueous solutions using cone biomass of Thuja oriental. J Hazard Mater B137:899–908

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mohamed Z, Abdelkarim A, Ziat K, Mohamed S (2016) Adsorption of Cu(II) onto natural clay: equilibrium and thermodynamic studies. J Mater Environ Sci 7:566–570

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mohapatra M, Khatum S, Anand S (2009) Adsorption behaviour of Pb(II), Cd(II) and Zn(II) on NALCO plant sand. Indian J Chem Technol 16:291–300

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery DC (2005) Design and analysis of experiment. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Muthu K, Viruthagiri T (2015) Study on solid based calcium oxide as a heterogeneous catalyst for the production of biodiesel. J Adv Chem Sci 1:160–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Na P, Jia X, Yuan B, Li Y, Na J, Chen Y, Wang L (2010) Arsenic adsorption on Ti-pillared montmorillonite. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 85:708–714

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen TC, Loganathan P, Nguyen TV, Vigneswaran S, Kandasamy J, Naidu R (2015) Simultaneous adsorption of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn by an iron-coated Australian zeolite in batch and fixed-bed column studies. Chem Eng J 2:1–36

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Obeng DP, Morrell S, Napier-Munn TJ (2005) Application of central composite rotatable design to modeling the effect of some operating variables on the performance of the three –product cyclone. Int J Miner Process 76:181–192

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Olutoye MA, Hameed BH (2013) A highly active clay-based catalyst for the synthesis of fatty acid methyl ester from waste cooking palm oil. Appl Catal A Gen 450:57–62

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rai MK, Shukla MM, Doris KL, Shukla A, Rai BN (2016) Removal of hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) using activated carbon prepared from mango kernel activated with H3PO4. Resourc Effic Technol 2:S63–S70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ridha MJ, Ahmed AS, Raoof NN (2017) Investigation of the thermodynamic, kinetic and equilibrium parameters of batch biosorption of Pb(II), Cu(II) and Ni(II) from aqueous phase using low cost biosorbent. Al-Nahrain J Eng Sci (NJES) 201:298–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Selvaraj K, Manonmani S, Pattabhi S (2003) Removal of hexavalent chromium using distillery sludge. Bioresour Technol 89:207–211

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma YC, Singh B, Korstad J (2010) Application of an efficient non-conventional heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel synthesis from Pongamia pinnata oil. Energy Fuel 24:3223–3231

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sumathi KMS, Mahimairaja S, Naidu R (2005) Use of low-cost biological waste and vermiculite for removal of chromium from tannery effluent. Bioresour Technol 96:309–316

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tan IAW, Ahmed AL, Hameed BH (2008) Preparation of activated carbon from coconut husk: optimization study on removal of 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenol using response surface methodology. J Hazard Mater 153:709–717

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tan YH, Abdullah MO, Hipolito CN, Taufiq-Yap YH (2015) Waste ostrich and chicken-eggshells as heterogeneous base catalyst for biodiesel production from used cooking oil: catalyst characterization and biodiesel yield performance. Appl Energy 2:1–13

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vasudevan S, Lakshmi J (2012) Electrochemical removal of boron from water: adsorption and thermodynamic studies. Can J Chem Eng 90:1017–1026

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vasudevan S, Lakshmi J, Sozhan G (2011) Studies on the Al-Zn-In-alloy as anode material for the removal of chromium from drinking water in electrocoagulation process. Desalination 275:260–268

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vasudevan S, Lakshmi J, Kamaraj R, Sozhan G (2013) A critical study on the removal of copper by an electrochemically assisted coagulation: equilibrium, kinetics, and thermodynamics. Asia Pac J Chem Eng 8:162–171

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang LH, Lin CI (2008) Adsorption of lead ion from aqueous solution using rice hull ash. Ind Eng Chem Res 47:4891–4897

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yu LJ, Shukla SS, Dorris KL, Shukla A, Margrave JL (2003) Adsorption of chromium from aqueous solutions by maple sawdust. J Hazard Mater 100:53–63

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan P, Fan M, Yang D (2009) Montmorillonite-supported magnetite nanoparticles for the removal of hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] from aqueous solutions. J Hazard Mater 166:821–829

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yusuff AS (2017) Preparation and characterization of composite anthill-chicken eggshell adsorbent: optimization study on heavy metals adsorption using response surface methodology. J Environ Sci Technol 10:120–130

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yusuff AS, Olateju II, Ekanem SE (2017) Equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic studies of the adsorption of heavy metals from aqueous solution by thermally treated quail eggshell. J Environ Sci Technol 10:246–257

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, College of Engineering, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

    Adeyinka S. Yusuff, Mayowa A. Lala & Jima F. Ngochindo

  2. Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

    Afeez O. Gbadamosi

Authors
  1. Adeyinka S. Yusuff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Afeez O. Gbadamosi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mayowa A. Lala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jima F. Ngochindo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adeyinka S. Yusuff.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Guilherme L. Dotto

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yusuff, A.S., Gbadamosi, A.O., Lala, M.A. et al. Synthesis and characterization of anthill-eggshell composite adsorbent for removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 19143–19154 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2075-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2075-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation