Iranian Journal of Chemical Engineering (IJChE)

Abstract Heavy metals are among the most hazardous pollutants released into the environment through industrial activities. In recent years, adsorption has been recognized as an effective method for the removal of metal ions from wastewater. Ultrasonic irradiation is a promising technique for intensifying mass transfer during adsorption. In this study, the effect of high-frequency ultrasonic waves on the enhancement of nickel (II) ion removal from aqueous solutions using Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles was investigated. The influence of adsorbent dosage, contact time, and pH on removal efficiency was examined and optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The maximum removal efficiency achieved with the ultrasonic-assisted process was 84.3% at 60 minutes of contact time, 8 g of Fe₃O₄, and pH = 5, while the conventional stirring (shaker) method resulted in a maximum efficiency of 79.54% at 100 minutes, 10 g of adsorbent, and pH = 9. The use of ultrasound significantly accelerated the adsorption rate at the initial stages by generating cavitation and microstreaming, which increased the availability of active surface sites on the nanoparticles. These findings demonstrate that the combination of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles and ultrasonic irradiation offers a rapid, efficient, and environmentally friendly approach for the removal of nickel (II) ions from industrial wastewater.

Abstract An adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was applied to simulate the batch adsorption of triglyceride (TG) from the human blood serum using the cinnamon powder, which has appeared as a potential biosorbent for serum purification, in our previous work. The obtained experimental results were used to train and evaluate the ANFIS model. Temperature (°C), the adsorption time (h), the stirring rate (rpm), the dose of adsorbent (g) and the adsorbent milling time (min) (or the particle sizes of the powder) were considered as the model inputs and TG removal (%) was chosen as the model response. The ANFIS model was trained with 75 % of the available data while 25 % of the remaining data was used to verify the validity of the obtained model. Sobol sensitivity analysis results indicated that the cinnamon dose with 71 % and the adsorbent milling time (or the particle size of the powder) with 15 % impact share were the most influential variables on the TG removal. Furthermore, the specific surface area and the number of reactive adsorption sites were found to be the most important characteristics of the adsorbent. Generally, the results of this study confirmed the advantages of applying the ANFIS and Sobol approaches for the data-based modeling of the bioprocesses.

Abstract In this research, silica gel as a low-cost adsorbent for the uptake of carbon dioxide was investigated experimentally. The samples were characterized by XRD, BET and FT-IR. It shows that as pressure was increased from 2 to 8 bar, the CO2 adsorption capability improved over time. At a pressure of 6 bar and a dose of 1 g of silica gel, the impact of temperature (25, 45, 65, and 85 °C) on the CO2 adsorption capacity (mg/g) was determined. The process behavior was investigated using isotherm, kinetics and thermodynamic models. As the temperature rises at a constant pressure, the adsorption capacity decreases. The experimental data of the carbon dioxide adsorption using silica gel have a high correlation coefficient with both Langmuir (0.998) and Freundlich (0.999) models. The results of the carbon dioxide adsorption kinetics with the silica gel adsorbent show that the correlation coefficient (R2) of the second-order model and Ritchie's second model are equal to 0.995 and have the highest value. The total pore volume was 0.005119 (cm3 g-1) and the specific surface area was 2.1723 (m2g−1). The maximum CO2 adsorption capacity at 25 °C near 8 bar was 195.8 mg/g.

Abstract Ziziphus nuts are abundant in Khuzestan province, Iran, and are considered as an unwanted natural biomass waste. The present study is aimed to develop low-cost activated carbon from Ziziphus nuts as a new precursor for the removal of phosphate from the water environment.the iron oxide modification was performed to simultaneously facilitate the adsorbent separation via a simple magnetic process and increase the phosphate removal capacity. The iron oxide/activated carbon composite (IOAC) was characterized using XRD, EDX, SEM, and BET methods. The specific surface area for IOAC reached 569.41 m²/g, comparable to that of the commercial activated carbon. While other similar derived-from-biomasses activated carbon reached the phosphate removal capacity of around 15 mg/g, IOAC demonstrated the excellent phosphate removal performance of as high as 27 mg/g. Also, IOAC showed fast adsorption kinetics, achieving equilibrium in only 60 minutes. According to the results, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was more consistent with the data related to the phosphate adsorption onto the adsorbent than the pseudo-first-order model. The adsorption results using Langmuir, Freundlich, and Webber-Morris diffusion models were interpreting. The maximum Langmuir adsorption capacity was calculated to be 27 mg/L. The adsorbent was removed from the aqueous solution via a simple magnetic process.

Abstract In this work, hydrophobic silica aerogels were synthesized using sol-gel method and drying at ambient pressure. The surface morphology, pore size, and the presence of functional groups on the surface of the nanoparticles were analyzed using FE-SEM, TGA, FT-IR, and EDX, respectively. After calcination at 500 °C, the hydrophilic property of the adsorbents was evaluated by water contact angle measurements. The calcinated silica aerogels were used for adsorption of nitrate from aqueous solution in both batch and continuous processes. In the batch process, the effect of initial nitrate concentration, contact time, pH level, and adsorbent dosage were investigated. Results showed that the nitrate removal percentage increased with the decrement of the pH level and the initial nitrate concentration. On the other hand, increasing the contact time and the adsorbent dosage resulted in higher removal percentage. Accordingly, process optimization resulted in a nitrate removal of 92.2 %. Furthermore, it was found that the equilibrium results were in agreement with the Langmuir isotherm model better than with the Freundlich model and also the adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order model. In the continuous process, the effects of the input flow rate, the bed height, and the initial nitrate concentration were investigated.

Abstract In this work, zeolite 13X with porosity structure has been used as an adsorbent for adsorption of CO2 flue gas. The effect of operating conditions including pressure and time on adsorption capacity were investigated. The experiments conditions are constant temperature, the range of pressure 1 - 9 bar and the registration of adsorption capacity with passing of time. Experimental data were adjusted with adsorption isotherm models including two and three parameters isotherm. Also the process was studied in terms of kinetic models and after the implementation of the experimental data with kinetic models, the speed of this process equations were obtained. The best kinetic model for this process was selected first order equation. The results showed that adsorption capacity of 13X is 71.5 mg/g at pressure of 8 bars. Also the result indicate that 13x has high capacity at low pressures. With regard to achieved results for adsorption isotherm modeling, the adsorption isotherm followed of the three-parameter and among three-parameter models, Toth isotherm can be interpreted the process. Also the results of the fixed bed indicate a very high adsorbent selectivity to carbon dioxide adsorption and there was little oxygen and nitrogen adsorption.

Abstract At this work, removal of Pb (II) using Lawsonia inermis (Henna) was studied. In recent years, use of low price adsorbent is taken into consideration. Adsorption experiments were performed in batch system at ambient temperature (25℃). The influence of some parameters such as time, initial metal concentration, pH and adsorbent dose were investigated. The optimum conditions was obtained at pH of 6, 10 ppm of initial metal concentration, 80 min of contact time and 0.75 g/L of adsorbent dose. To study the adsorbent morphology, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used before and after adsorption of Pb (II) ions. Sorption of Pb (II) was evaluated by Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. The results indicate that the Freundlich isotherm model is better described the adsorption of Pb (II) than Langmuir isotherm model. Also, it is observed that, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model well fitted to experimental data .

Abstract In this study, ZIF-67 was synthesized through solvothermal method to remove Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solution. To improve the structural properties of ZIF-67 and its adsorption capacity, optimization of the synthesis conditions was carried out based on maximum Cr(VI) uptake. From experiments, the optimum condition was revealed as solvent: metal ion molar ratio of 4.6:1, ligand: metal ion molar ratio of 318:1 and temperature of 23℃. The physio-chemical properties of as-synthesized ZIF-67 were investigated by BET, XRD, FTIR and FESEM analyses. Effect of adsorption pH, adsorbent dosage, initial concentration and contact time on adsorption process was investigated. Based on the results, the maximum adsorption capacity of Cr(VI) was 26.27 mg/g which was obtained at 35℃, pH= 5, adsorbent dosage of 3 g/l and initial concentration of 107.82 mg/l. The equilibrium time for Cr(VI) adsorption varied from 180 min for low initial concentration of 9 mg/L to 240 min for a high initial concentration of 90 mg/L. For the synthesized ZIF-67, maximum uptake capacity was reported 26.27 mg/g at initial concentration of 107.82 mg/l. The equilibrium data were described better by Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm model than the other models at three different temperatures. Pseudo-second-order model fitted the experimental data better than pseudo-first-order one. Adsorption thermodynamics indicated that the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous in nature. The regenerability of ZIF-67 was also studied in three sequential cycles and the Cr(VI) adsorption was almost retained after two cycles.

Abstract The present study investigates the potential applicability of the extracted pectin from sour orange pomace as adsorbent for Ni (II) removal from aqueous solution. Pectin extraction from the pomace was carried out using HCl and the highest pectin extraction yield of 26.75% was obtained. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis confirmed that the structure of the extracted pectin was similar to the commercial one. The morphology and chemical characteristics of pectin beads were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) techniques. The influence of several parameters including pH, initial metal concentration, adsorption temperature and time was studied to optimize nickel removal. The maximum Ni (II) removal of 85.1% was obtained at initial concentration of 20 mg/L and the highest adsorption capacity of 19.76 mg/g was achieved at nickel concentration of 100 mg/L. Kinetic and equilibrium studies were done to evaluate Ni (II) sorption from aqueous solution by the synthesized beads. Results showed that the sorption process follows a pseudo- second- order kinetic model. The equilibrium data were well correlated with Langmuir and Redlich-Peterson models by high regression coefficients.

Abstract In this study adsorption of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution by Fe3O4 nanoparticles was investigated. Desorption process and recovery of nanoparticles using different solutions were then carried out, and it was observed that NaOH (0.5M) can remove 90% of adsorbed chromium ions. Following the completion of adsorption/ desorption cycles, it was determined that nanoparticles have still had a high ability of chromium ions adsorption after 4 cycles. In addition, it was found that when iron oxide nanoparticles were washed with NaOH solution, the adsorption efficiency increases in the next cycle. FTIR spectra and zeta potential analysis, demonstrated the increased in surface positively charged of nanoparticles leads to increased electrostatic attraction forces between the iron oxide nanoparticles and chromium ions which finally resulted in adsorption increasing. So in this research, pretreatment of nanoparticles with NaOH solution modifies the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles by increasing surface positively charged mechanism and the adsorption efficiency has improved in the next cycle.

Abstract In this study, novel polycarbonate-titanium oxide nanotubes (PC-TNT) ultrafiltration mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were fabricated for decontamination of Cd2+ and Cu2+ metal ions from aqueous solution. The weight percent of TNTs in the polycarbonate membrane matrix was changed from 0 to 15. The synthesized neat PC membrane and PC-TNTs MMMs were characterized with respect to structural morphology and hydrophilicity using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and water contact angle, respectively. The effects of TNTs loadings on the pure water flux, mean pore size, porosity and water contact angle of fabricated membranes and Cd2+ and Cu2+ heavy metal ion rejection were also studied. By increasing the loading of TNTs nanoparticles in the membrane matrix, the membrane mean pore size tended to increase, while the porosity decreased. Also, the increase in TNTs loading resulted in an increase in membrane water flux which was mainly attributable to the enhancement in mean pore size and partly caused by the decreased contact angle value (more hydrophilic). Of all the membranes studied, it was found by UF experiments that PC-TNT MMM was the most efficient material in heavy metal ions removal due to the superior adsorption capacity of TNTs material. The generic results revealed that TNTs material can be favorite candidates for MMMs preparation in order to be conveniently used in the Cd2+ and Cu2+ heavy metal ions decontamination from polluted water resources.

Abstract Adsorption of Ce(III) from aqueous solution by amino phosphate modified nano TiO2 was investigated. Effects of pH of solution, adsorbent dose, contact time, initial metal concentration and temperature were examined. Experimental data were fitted well by the pseudo second order model. Adsorption was well described by Freundlich isotherm model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 25 mg g-1. According to the obtained thermodynamic parameters, the adsorption was a spontaneous and endothermic process. Effect of interfering cations was studied. The presence of Ca and Mg ions up to 150 mg L-1 showed no considerable effect on the adsorption of Ce(III). Regeneration of adsorbent was performed using HNO3 with efficiency greater than 84%. The quantities of distribution coefficient (Kd), the affinity of metal for retention onto solid phase, was the higher for Ce(III) than La(III). Due to the high sorption capacity, being plentiful and low cost it is concluded that the use of amino phosphate mofified nano titania as an appropriate adsorbent is promising for the removal of lanthanides especially Ce(III) from contaminated sites.

Abstract A high performance activated carbon was synthesized using walnut shell as a solid waste through a two-step zinc chloride chemical activation-thermal pyrolysis process. Characterization results demonstrated its porous structure with very good textural properties such as high BET surface area (1223 m2/g) and high total pore volume (0.85 cm3/g). The final adsorbent was used for adsorption of Fe (II) and Cr (VI) from aqueous solution. Effect ofpH, initial concentration of metal ions, temperature, and contact time on adsorption capacity of the adsorbent was investigated. Adsorption results revealed that the maximum removal of Fe (II) and Cr (VI) ions, occurred at pH 4. 5 and 2 respectively, were 96.2% and 99% at 313K. The equilibrium and kinetics data for adsorption of single-component ions were well described by the Sips isotherm and the pseudo-nth-order models, respectively. The impact of competing ions was studied by adsorption of a binary solution of Fe (II) and Cr (VI) ions. The binary adsorption isotherm was described by the modified Langmuir model and model parameters were found following an optimization procedure by genetic algorithm. Finally, the developed walnut-shell based activated carbon showed higher adsorption efficiency compared to other activated carbons at similar conditions.

Abstract In this study, we suggest proceeding to an experimental study concerning the synthesis of new organo metallic product xanthate (KIBX) by intermittent method and their use in the processes of sulphides flotation. The adsorption of potassium isobutyl xanthate (KIBX 3 ⋅10 -3 M) on sphalerite has been studied using electrochemical potential, FTIR technique and SEM. Non activated minerals and minerals activated with copper sulfate (10-4 M) and copper nitrate (10 -4 M) have been investigated at pH 7.5. Surface species have been identified by FTIR and correlated with SEM. After copper sulfate activation, copper xanthate exists on all of the minerals studied. Neutral pH is the most suitable for potassium isobutyl xanthate adsorption on sphalerite.

Abstract In this study, adsorption data for the case of energetically heterogeneous solid surface are modeled using artificial neural network. A neural network with three hidden neurons, including the bias, was able to predict very accurately the temperature dependency of adsorption data. The results were compared with experimental data (over temperature range 273-313 K and 0-2 MPa pressure) and it was found that the predictions of the artificial neural network model fit the experimental data very accurately.

Abstract Chlorinated hydrocarbons and aromatics are the major volatile organic compounds that contaminate the ground water and industrial waste waters. The best way to overcome this problem is to recover the dissolved compounds in water. In order to evaluate the potential ability of granular activated carbon (GAC) for recovery of volatile organic compounds from water, the equilibrium adsorption was investigated. This study deals with the adsorption of dichloromethane as a typical chlorinated volatile organic compound (VOCs) and toluene as the representative of aromatic volatile organic compounds on a commercial GAC. The adsorption isotherms of these two volatile organic compounds on GAC were measured at three different temperatures, toluene at 293, 303 and 313 K and dichloromethane at 298, 303 and 313 K within their solubility concentration range in water. The maximum adsorption capacity of dichloromethane and toluene adsorption by GAC was 4 and 0.2 mol/Kg-1, respectively. The experimental data obtained were correlated with different adsorption isotherm models. The Langmuir model was well adapted to the description of dichloromethane adsorption on GAC at all three temperatures, while the adsorption of toluene on GAC was found to be well described by the Langmuir-BET hybrid model at all three temperatures. The heat of adsorption was also calculated based on the thermodynamic equation of Clausius–Clapeyron, which indicates the adsorption process is endothermic for both compounds.

Abstract Polymer adsorption by nanoparticles improves the stability of these types of suspensions against aggregation. In this work, the surface adsorption of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with different molecular weights onto the Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles is studied. The effects of solution pH value and temperature on the adsorption process are also investigated. The ZnO nanoparticles are then analyzed using Fourier transform infra red (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. The aggregation of nano particles before and after polymer adsorption is also investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that by adsorbing the PEG and PVA, due to a relatively large electrostatic repulsive force between ZnO nano particles, the size of aggregated nanoparticles decreases. It has also been revealed that the low molecular weight polymers exhibit a higher adsorption rate on the particles’ surfaces in comparison to the polymers with high molecular weight.

Abstract Surfactants are one of the major components (10- 18%) of detergents and household cleaning products and are used in high volumes in developed countries. In the present research work, the ability of rice husk as a low cost adsorbent for anionic and nonionic surfactants in wastewater has been studied.
The maximum removal efficiency for anionic surfactants was 97%, in an aqueous solution that contains 10mg/lit sodium linear alkyl benzene sulphonate in pH 2 and for nonionic surfactants was up to 75% in an aqueous solution that contains 20mg/lit nonyl phenol ethoxylate in pH 6-7.
The mechanism of surfactant removal by rice husk was attributed to the physicochemical characteristics of rice husk. In addition, the size of micelles and critical micelle concentration are two important factors in the removal yield.
 
 
 
 

Abstract In this research, Fischer Tropsch synthesis (FTS) has been modeled in the fixed bed chromatographic reactor for the first time by applying a rather complex dispersed plug flow model for fluid phase and linear driving force (LDF) model for adsorbent. Model equations are dynamic, multi-component, non-linear and heterogeneous including reaction and adsorption simultaneously Complex kinetics for FTS and water-gas shift (WGS) reaction and the multicomponent Langmuir adsorption isotherm is used in the model. A set of partial differential and ordinary differential equations with algebraic equations have been converted into a set of ordinary differential equations by using the orthogonal collocation technique. Then this set of equations has been solved by multi-step methods of Numerical Differentiation Formulae (NDF) or Backward Dif-ferentiation Formulae (BDF) Known as the Gear’s method. Consequently, results for dynamic model and effects of modeling parameters have been analyzed. Through this fixed bed chromatographic reactor model, one may develop a suitable configuration of simulated moving bed chromatographic reactors.
 
 
 

Abstract Recently, use of naturally-occurring low-cost and harmless material for removal of trace contaminants from colored wastewater has attracted extensive attention. In this study, silkworm pupa has been used as a basic dye adsorbent. Adsorption capacity and isotherms have been assessed. Results show that adsorption isotherms can be expressed well by Langmuir equation. The effects of parameters such as pH, temperature, agitation time and speed on the adsorption efficiency were investigated. It was found that among those factors the pH is the most pronounced one. Also the adsorption capacity of pupa towards the various cationic dyes is changed as follows: basic blue >basic yellow >basic red.