Removal of copper(II) from aqueous solution by Jordanian pottery materials

The aim of this work was to assess the possibility of removing some heavy metals from water by a low-cost adsorbent, like Jordanian raw pottery. Five types of raw and modified pottery materials have been investigated. The effects of initial metal concentration, agitation time, pH and temperature on the removal of Cu(II) were studied. A pseudo-first order was used to test the adsorption kinetics. In order to investigate the sorption isotherm, two equilibrium models, the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms, were analyzed. The effect of solution pH on the adsorption onto pottery was studied in the pH range 1-5. The adsorption was exothermic at ambient temperature and the computation of the parameters, ΔH, ΔS and ΔG, indicated the interactions to be thermodynamically favorable.