Adsorption study of mercury on lignite in the presence of different anions

This study compares the effect of different anions such as chloride, nitrate, and sulphate on the mercury adsorption onto lignite, which was a model material for the humus-containing organics in soil, and can be considered as a natural sorbent in the remediation of contaminated sites. Since the complex formation can significantly influence the mercury sorption, besides chloride, the effects of other complex-forming agents such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, and thiocyanate were also tested. Various batch type and dynamic experiments were performed and four sorption models (Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich) were used to evaluate the sorption data.