Sorption Behavior and Mechanism of Pb(II) on Chinese Loess

Lead pollution is common in Western China and has caused serious public health problems recently. The treatment of wastewater containing Pb(II) is stringent for the sustainable development of local economics. The Chinese loess proved effective to remove Pb(II) from aqueous solution and applicable in the treatment of wastewater from lead-zinc ore mining sites. The adsorption capacity of Chinese loess about Pb(II) is determined as high as 270.26 mg g(-1) in this study. Factors affecting the adsorption of Pb(II) include slurry concentration, solution pH, temperature, and equilibrating duration. The optimum conditions for Pb(II) adsorption include sorbent dosage >= 0.05 g/50 mL, pH(i)>= pH(zpc), temperature=55 degrees C, and equilibration duration >= 30 min. The isotherms and kinetic data are well fitted with Langmuir model and pseudo-first order kinetics, respectively. The thermodynamic behavior reveals the exothermic and spontaneous nature of the adsorption. The adsorption of Pb(II) on loess involves chemical reaction with calcite and surface complexation with clay minerals and hydrolysis of quartz; the former is considered as the dominant mechanism. X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared patterns confirmed these speculations.