A COMPARATIVE STUDY FOR THE REMOVAL OF COPPER AND ZINC IONS USING SOME TREATED CARBON

The objective of this study is to assess the uptake of copper and zinc ions from their aqueous solutions onto activated carbons obtained from date stone by chemical activated method using H3PO4 and ZnCl2. The comparison with a commercial activated carbon has been made. The influence of loading of commercial activated carbon with 10 wt. % hydrous zirconium oxide on the textural and adsorptive properties was also studied. The characterization of prepared carbons is performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nitrogen adsorption at 77K. FTIR reveals the presence of different oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of phosphoric acid and zinc chloride activated carbons. Adsorption isotherms of Cu (II) and Zn (II) onto investigated carbons were determined by batch experiments. Langmuir model is well studied to fit the adsorption isotherm data. Loading of commercial activated carbon with 10 wt. % hydrous zirconium oxide decrease the surface area and the porosity of the sample and increase to a great extent its adsorption capacity for the removal of Cu (II) and Zn (II). The surface chemical nature of activated carbons seems to be the most important factor in this adsorption process. The thermodynamic parameters ?H0, ?S0, ?G0 related to the adsorption process for the two metal ions on OC and OCZ carbons were determined.