Performance evaluation of zirconium silicate composite for removal of cadmium and zinc ions

The purification of wastewater is preferred using the adsorption by column due to the process's high efficiency. Column investigations are performed to remove hazardous pollutants and demonstrate the adsorption efficiency of the pollutants in the wastewater treatment process. Cadmium and zinc exist in radioactive and industrial wastes. Therefore, this work is interested in zinc and cadmium removal from wastewater utilising a fixed-bed column. Zirconia-silicate composite (ZrO2-SiO2) was synthesised utilising the sol-gel technique and analyzed for this purpose. The influence of some parameters as bed depth (2.0, 3.0 and 5.0 cm), flow rate (2.0 and 3.0 mL/min) and initial ions concentrations (50-200 mg/L) was investigated. The column performance was computed to be 80.3 and 79.3% for Zn2 + and Cd2+, respectively, at the optimum conditions (3.0 cm bed depth, 2.0 mL/min flow rate and 100 mg/L ions concentration). Thomas, Adams-Bohart and Yoon-Nelson theories were performed to assess breakthrough curves and determine the parameters of column models which are essential for scale-up design. Thomas theory exhibited the highest R-2 values (0.84-0.97) and gave the most accurate computation of the adsorption process.

Automated summary

The purification of wastewater using fixed-bed columns is efficient for removing hazardous pollutants, with a focus on zinc and cadmium removal in this study utilizing zirconia-silicate composite material. The study revealed that at optimal conditions, the removal rates were 80.3% and 79.3% for Zn2+ and Cd2+ respectively. Thomas theory showed the highest R-2 values and accurate computation of the adsorption process.