Supercritical CO2Assisted Synthesis of EDTA-Fe3O4Nanocomposite with High Adsorption Capacity for Hexavalent Chromium

Efficiency of EDTA functionalized nanoparticles in adsorption of chromium (VI) from water was investigated in this study. Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) were synthesized by a simple chemical coprecipitation route and EDTA coating onto IONPs was attained via supercritical carbon dioxide (Sc CO2), a technology with green sustainable properties. The obtained nanoparticles were then characterized by UV-Visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and vibrating magnetometric analysis (VSM). The synthesized nanoparticle and its modified variant were evaluated as adsorbent for chromium (VI) removal from water through batch adsorption technique and the effect of analytic concentration; contact time and adsorbent concentration were studied at pH 2. The results showed higher removal efficiency for modified magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MIONPs) (i.e., 99.9%) than their nonmodified variant IONPs, that is, 34.06% for the same concentration after 18 hours of incubation. Also maximum adsorption capacity (qe= 452.26 mg/g) of MIONPs attained can be related to their preparation in Sc CO2asqecalculated from IONPs, that is, 170.33 mg/g, is lower than that of MIONPs. The adsorption data fit well with Freundlich isotherm equation while kinetic adsorption studies of chromium (VI) were modeled by pseudo-second-order model.