Preparation of a Novel Supported Selenium Nanoparticles Adsorbent and Its Application for Copper Removal from Aqueous Solution

A novel supported nanoadsorbent (nanoSe 0 -supported/cotton) was prepared by loading selenium nanoparticles with sucrose on absorbent cotton. The feasibility of using nanoSe 0 -supported/cotton to remove Cu from aqueous solution has been confirmed in batch and continuous systems. Effective experimental parameters such as adsorbent mass, contact time, temperature, initial (feed) Cu(II) concentration, flow rate, and bed height were investigated. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm model was found to accurately fit the batch experimental data ( R 2 > 0.988) indicating that the adsorption was a monolayer-mode and kinetic data were successfully described by a pseudo-second-order model ( R 2 > 0.999). For a mass of 0.18 g of nanoSe 0 -supported/cotton, the maximum Cu removal rate of 0.977 could be achieved with an initial Cu(II) concentration of 0.200 g·L –1 and a contact time of 360 min. After the Cu adsorption, the Se in the nanoSe 0 -supported/cotton would transform into Cu 2 Se, and the utilization rate of Se was about 0.817. Continuous systems were investigated in a column. The equilibrium Cu uptake of the column could be determined by the Thomas model at all experimental conditions (ε < 4.3 %). The bed-depth service-time model was applied to predict the service times at 20 %, 40 %, and 60 % breakthrough with a new flow rate and feed concentration.