Synthesis of Magnetite Nanoparticles and Evaluation of Its Efficiency for Arsenic Removal From Simulated Industrial Wastewater



Khodabakhshi A¹ ; Amin MM² ; Mozaffari M³
Source: Iranian Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering Published:2011

Abstract

In this study the efficiency of magnetic nanoparticles for removal of trivalent arsenic from synthetic industrial wastewater was evaluated. The nanoparticles was prepared by sol-gel method and characterized by X-ray methods including XRD, XRF, and SEM, and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The results showed that synthesized nanoparticles were in the size range of 40-300 nm, purity of about 90%, and magnetization of nanoparticles was 36.5emu/g. In initial conditions including: pH=7, As(III) concentration of 10 mg/L, nanomagnetite concentration of 1g/L, shaking speed of 250 rpm and 20 minute retention time, 82% of As (III) was removed. Competition from common coexisting ions such as Na+, Ni2+, Cu2+, SO42-, and Cl- was ignorable but for NO3- was significant. The adsorption data of magnetite nanoparticles fit well with Freundlich isotherm equations. The adsorption capacity of the Fe3O4 for As (III) at pH=7 was obtained as 23.8 mg/g. It was concluded that magnetite nanoparticles have considerable potential in removal of As(III) from synthetic industrial wastewaters.