Arsenate removal with 3-mercaptopropanoic acid-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

•Feasibility of using SPION modified with 3MPA for the removal of As(V).•The adsorbent system results in an effective sorption for selective As(V) removal.•The adsorption capacity for As(V) is higher comparing with other adsorbent systems.•Adsorption mechanism has been proposed as the most suitable considering the results.

In the present work, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) surface-coated with 3-mercaptopropanoic acid (3-MPA) were prepared and their feasibility for the removal of arsenate from dilute aqueous solutions was demonstrated. The synthesized 3-MPA-coated SPION was characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier transform infra-red spectrometry (FTIR). Separation efficiency of the coated nanoparticles and the equilibrium isotherm of arsenate adsorption were investigated. The obtained results reveal the arsenate adsorption to be highly pH-dependent, and the maximum adsorption was attained in less than 60 min. The resulting increase of 3-MPA-coated SPION adsorption capacity to twice the adsorption capacity of SPION alone under the same conditions is attributed to the increase of active adsorption sites. An adsorption reaction is proposed. On the other hand, efficient recovery of arsenate from the loaded nanoparticles was achieved using nitric acid (HNO3) solution, which also provides a concentration over the original arsenate solution.

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