Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
9456158 | Environmental Pollution | 2005 | 10 Pages |
Abstract
A sphagnum peat moss removed Cd from aqueous solutions very efficiently, and its effectiveness in taking up the metal was significantly enhanced by exposure to a 1 N NaOH solution. The capacity of the untreated peat for Cd reached 300 g/kg and that of the NaOH-activated peat was over 400 g/kg. Although saturation was rarely reached, the Cd uptake from concentrated solutions often exceeded 200 g/kg. In column experiments, 1 g of the NaOH-activated peat completely removed the metal from over 0.2 L of a 200-mg/L Cd solution (final Cd concentration < 0.1 mg/L), while 1 g of non-activated peat cleared Cd from less than 25% of that volume. The cation exchange capacity measured for the peat depended on the time of contact with the exchanging solution. After 72 h contact, the value for the NaOH-activated peat was 135 cmolc/kg. In addition to uptake by exchange, a significant amount of Cd was sorbed by non-exchange mechanisms. FTIR spectroscopy revealed the importance of carboxyl groups in the uptake.
Keywords
Related Topics
Life Sciences
Environmental Science
Environmental Chemistry
Authors
Pinchas Fine, Alessandra Scagnossi, Yona Chen, Uri Mingelgrin,