Equilibrium and Kinetics Studies for Adsorption of Cu(II) from Aqueous Solution by Modified Phosphogypusum
The purpose of this study was to investigate the adsorption of Cu(II) on phosphogypsum, a waste material from the manufacture of phosphoric acid by wet process. The removal capacity of phosphogypsum for Cu(II) ions was studied as a function of solution pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage and adsorbate concentration. Before batch adsorption study, phosphogypsum was pre-conditioned by calcine without water. The Langmuir and Freundlich theories were used to describe the Cu(II) adsorption process, and the Freundlich isotherm showed the best fit to the process. The adsorptions of Cu(II) followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. Maximum adsorption capacity of lime-preconditioned phosphogypsum was found to be 2.824 mg/g. The results showed that the phoshogypsum is a suitable adsorbent for the removal of Cu(II) ions from aqueous solutions.