Cyanide removal study by raw and iron-modified synthetic zeolites in batch adsorption experiments

The environmental concerns for treating cyanide-containing wastewater via adsorption technology has been advancing which resulting in the need for a robust yet simple method. Synthetic zeolite was used as a suitable adsorbent for cyanide removal due to its excellent surface properties. In this study, the modification of zeolite was made by iron doping to trigger a better adsorption performance. Then, the comparison between the effectiveness of each zeolite follows subsequently. SEM, XRD, and BET analyses were employed to study the adsorbents characteristics. Cyanide uptake experiments were conducted by a batch technique for certain contact times at room temperature, while adsorbent dose and agitation speed were set constant. The results showed that before the equilibrium, iron-doped zeolite removed 20% more cyanide by following the pseudo-second-order kinetic model than raw zeolite which fits the pseudo-first-order model. Langmuir model was better in describing the adsorption behavior of cyanide onto iron-modified synthetic zeolite. The maximum uptake capacity of cyanide onto iron-zeolite was known as 33.978 mg g(-1).