| Popis: |
Removal of dissolved zinc (Zn) from water by a novel alkali-activated material (AAM) prepared from steel industry slags in a fixed-bed column was investigated. Design of experiments was used to find the optimum operation parameters [flow rate (Q), adsorbent mass, (mads), and initial Zn concentration (C0)] for the removal of Zn2+ from a ZnCl2 solution. Regression models for the breakthrough (qb), and saturation (qsat) capacities of the bed and three other response parameters as functions of Q, mads and C0 were fitted with coefficients of determination (R2) ranging from 0.48 to 0.99. Experimental values of qb and qsat varied within 1.42–7.03 mg Zn/g and 10.57–17.25 mg Zn/g, respectively. The optimum operation parameters were determined to be Q= 1.64 ml/min and mads= 4.5 g, whereas C0 had negligible effect on the response parameters in the range 73–107 mg Zn/l. Finally, three empirical breakthrough curve (BTC) models were employed to describe the individual BTCs of which the modified dose – response model was found to give the best fit (0.960 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.998). The results of the present work demonstrate that the novel AAM has considerable potential to be utilized in water purification applications. |
