Studies on sorption of Cd(II) on Tata chromite mine overburden

Chromite mine overburden containing iron as oxide/hydroxide, a waste material generated in chromite mines was used as sorbent for cadmium. The iron content of material was 43.75% with a specific surface area of 50.8 m2/g. Batch experiments were conducted to study the sorption behavior of Cd(II) on this material. The variable experimental parameters were: time, pH, temperature, Cd(II) and sample concentration. The point of zero charge (PZC) of the overburden sample was experimentally determined as 6.48 which shifted to a pH of 7.8 when the sample was equilibrated with 100 mg/L Cd(II) solution. Maximum loading capacity of the overburden sample was found to be ∼19 mg Cd/g of material. It was observed that within 30 min the sorption attains equilibrium. Hence, the sorption data generated at 30 min with various initial Cd(II) concentrations and temperatures were taken to evaluate the thermodynamic parameters, i.e., ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS°. The ΔG° values reflect the feasibility of the metal removal from aqueous solution. The negative values of ΔH° confirmed the exothermic sorption of cadmium and the positive ΔS° values suggested the increased randomness at the solid-solution interface. The sorption data fitted well to both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models indicating a monolayer sorption. The value of Freundlich parameter 'n' (n is indicative of sorption intensity) lying between 1.46 and 1.59 shows that the surface of the sorbent is heterogeneous in nature.