Experimental study demonstrates efficient arsenic removal using an activated carbon-iron oxide nanocomposite in water systems, highlighting its potential for groundwater remediation.
Key Points
To synthesize and characterize an activated carbon-iron oxide nanocomposite and evaluate its adsorption kinetics, equilibrium capacity, and reusability for arsenic remediation in aqueous systems.
Synthesized the activated carbon-iron oxide nanocomposite (AC-IONC) via co-precipitation and characterized it using BET, SEM-EDS, FTIR, FESEM, and XRD.
Conducted batch adsorption experiments testing the effects of pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, and initial arsenic concentrations, modeling data using pseudo-second-order, Langmuir, and CAKE models.
Assessed material regeneration efficiency across repeated adsorption-desorption cycles and evaluated performance in spiked real water samples containing competing ions.
AC-IONC achieved a high specific surface area of 947.97 m²/g with structural stability and functional groups favorable for contaminant binding.
Adsorption followed pseudo-second-order kinetics (R² = 0.98, NAPE = 2.6%) and fit the Langmuir isotherm model (R² = 0.99, NAPE = 2.81), achieving a maximum adsorption capacity of 8.08 mg/g.
Regeneration testing demonstrated modest capacity decline across cycles, while spiked real water samples showed a marked reduction in adsorption capacity due to interference from co-existing ions.