Adsorption of copper ions onto microwave stabilized heavy metal sludge

Microwave stabilized heavy metal sludge was used as an adsorbent to remove the copper ions from aqueous solution. The adsorption characteristics of copper on the stabilized-sludge were studied by various models, such as Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm equation. Results show that the pHzpc of stabilized-sludge was at 9.2–9.5. Moreover, the adsorption of copper ions onto the stabilized-sludge surface was mainly on account of the heterogeneous surface of the stabilized-sludge. In the dynamic study, the experimental data was fitted to the intraparticle diffusion model, pseudo-first order model and pseudo-second order model. However, the experimental data was only well correlated with pseudo-second order model with the correlation coefficient > 0.995.Furthermore, both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm equations were found to represent the measured adsorption data well. From the Langmuir equation, the adsorption capacity increased from 18 to 28 mg/g as the temperature rose from 15 to 55 °C, since this adsorption process was an endothermic reaction. After this adsorption process, copper ions can be concentrated on and in a small bead and recovery efficiently.