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Activation of Coal Fly Ash for Cadmium Wastewater Remediation
Activación de ceniza volante de carbón para la remediación de aguas residuales contaminadas con cadmio
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15446/ing.investig.114741Keywords:
coal fly ash, ultrasonic activation in alkaline mediums, cadmium wastewater remediation, pH effect, kinetics parameter estimation, Elovich isotherm (en)ceniza volante de carbón, activación con ultrasonido en medio alcalino, remediación de agua de desecho con cadmio, efecto de pH, estimación de parámetros cinéticos, isoterma de Elovich (es)
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Industrial wastewater contamination by heavy metals is a major environmental issue. Various techniques and materials have been proposed to address this problem, including those related to the adsorption process. However, new, improved, and low-cost materials must be developed and proposed in order for these strategies to be competitive. This study aims to investigate the remediation of water contaminated with cadmium, i.e., Cd(II), using activated coal fly ash, a low-cost sorbent, as it is the byproduct of an industrial process. Coal fly ash was chemically treated in acidic and alkaline mediums and activated using ultrasonic energy to enhance the materials and increase the uptake of Cd(II). Controlling the pH was found to be crucial, as the maximum sorption capacity occurred at pH 6. The materials activated in an alkaline medium with ultrasound were able to adsorb more significant amounts of Cd(II) under the studied experimental conditions and over four cycles of adsorption experiments. Finally, the kinetics of the adsorption process were analyzed, and some mathematical kinetics models were proposed to simulate the experimental data. After statistical discrimination, the Elovich isotherm was selected to represent the adsorption of Cd(II) in the different materials studied.
La contaminación de aguas residuales industriales por metales pesados es un problema medioambiental importante. Se han propuesto varias técnicas y materiales para abordar esta problemática, incluyendo aquellas relacionadas con el proceso de adsorción. No obstante, es necesario desarrollar y proponer materiales nuevos, mejorados y de bajo costo para que estas estrategias sean competitivas. Este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar la remediación de agua contaminada con cadmio, i.e., Cd(II), utilizando cenizas volantes de carbón activado, un sorbente de bajo costo, pues es un subproducto de un proceso industrial. Las cenizas volantes de carbón se trataron químicamente en medios ácidos y alcalinos y se activaron mediante energía ultrasónica para mejorar su capacidad de adsorción de Cd(II). El control del pH resultó crucial, ya que la máxima capacidad de adsorción se produjo a un pH de 6. Los materiales activados en medio alcalino mediante ultrasonido pudieron adsorber cantidades más significativas de Cd(II) bajo las condiciones experimentales estudiadas y en cuatro ciclos de adsorción. Finalmente, se analizó la cinética del proceso de adsorción y se propusieron algunos modelos cinéticos matemáticos para simular los datos experimentales. Después de una discriminación estadística, se seleccionó la isoterma de Elovich para representar la adsorción de Cd(II) en los diferentes materiales estudiados.
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