Performance evaluation of hybrid inorganic/organic adsorbents in removal and preconcentration of heavy metals from drinking and industrial waste water

Hybrid inorganic/organic adsorbents based on alumina and 4-aminoantipyrene were synthesized, characterized and potentially applied to remove and preconcentrate Pb(II), Cu(II) and Cr(III) from industrial wastewater and drinking tap water via static and dynamic solid phase techniques. Hybrid inorganic/organic adsorbents were identified as strongly resistive to acid leaching in pH 1–7 and thermally stable up to 350 °C. Heavy metal binding performance was evaluated and found to exhibit strong capability and selectivity for removal of heavy metal ions such as Pb(II), Cu(II) and Cr(III) under optimized pH and contact time. The contribution of inorganic portion of the hybrid was strongly observed when low concentration levels (μg ml− 1 and ng ml− 1) of metal ions were used, while the contribution of the organic counterpart was detected for high concentration levels of metal ions. The hybrid adsorbents were successfully applied for selective removal of Pb(II), Cu(II) and Cr(III) from industrial wastewater samples with recovery values (92–98 ± 2–4%) as well as solid phase preconcentration of the spiked concentration (4.700–4.860 ng ml− 1) of Pb(II), Cu(II) and Cr(III) from drinking tap water samples with percentage values (93–97 ± 2–4%).