Francisco Jose Alguacil

By Francisco J. Alguacil and Félix A. Lopez

The adsorption of chromium(VI) from aqueous solutions onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) has been investigated under various experimental conditions of initial metal concentration, agitation speed, aqueous pH, temperature and adsorbent dosage to assess the equilibrium and kinetic parameters. It was found that the kinetic data were fitted with the pseudo-first- and pseudo-second-order models, whereas the chromium(VI) adsorption data were fitted with the Langmuir and Freundlich equilibrium models to give the characteristic parameters of each model. According with the evaluation, both isotherm models are useful to represent the measured adsorption data. The adsorption of chromium(VI) is also dependent on the temperature, and the corresponding thermodynamic parameters including ΔH°, ΔG° and ΔS° were estimated from the experimental data, indicating the exothermic and non-spontaneous nature of the metal adsorption onto the MWCNTs. Chromium(VI) desorption was investigated by the use of aqueous hydrazine sulfate solutions.

Part of the book: Water and Wastewater Treatment

By Francisco Jose Alguacil and Felix A. Lopez

The problem of the treatment of contaminated wastewaters is of the upmost worldwide interest. This contamination occurs via the presence of inorganic or organic contaminants of different nature in relation with the industry they come from. In the case of organic dyes, their environmental impact, and thus, their toxicity come from the air (releasing of dust and particulate matter), solid (scrap of textile fabrics, sludges), though the great pollution, caused from dyes, comes from the discharge of untreated effluents into waters, contributing to increase the level of BOD and COD in these liquid streams; this discharge is normally accompanied by water coloration, which low the water quality, and caused a secondary issue in the wastewater treatment. Among separation technologies, adsorption processing is one of the most popular, due to its versatility, easiness of work, and possibility of scaling-up in the eve of the treatment of large wastewater volumes. Within a miriade of potential adsorbents for the removal of organic dyes, this work presented the most recent advances in the topic.

Part of the book: Promising Techniques for Wastewater Treatment and Water Quality Assessment

By Francisco Jose Alguacil and Jose Ignacio Robla

Arsenic, either in (III) or (V) oxidation states forms, is a hazardous element to humans; thus, its removal from aqueous environments is of the utmost priority in the countries where this problem arises. From the various separation technologies, the removal of arsenic via biosorption processing attracted an interest, because besides the removal of the element, allows the recycle materials that in many cases are considered as wastes. The present chapter reviewed the most recent proposals (2022 year) about using biosorbents to remove this toxic element.

Part of the book: Arsenic in Environment - Sources, Implications and Remedies [Working title]