Nature Environment and Pollution Technology

F. Q. Wang ¹, Y. M. Zhang ², J. J. Lian ², Y. B. Guo ³, L. M. Wang ², Y. X. Gao ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Water Conservancy Engineering, North China University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450011, CN
2 Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, 8 Jiang Wang Miao Street, Nanjing 210042, CN
3 Dike Lock Management, Water Authority of Qidong, 140 Jiang Hai North Road, Nantong 226200, CN

Abstract

Removal of heavy metals from mine tailing effluent has been a long-standing environmental management issue in mining industry. In this study, removal of Mo(VI) from aqueous solutions was investigated using pyrite and cinder. Various parameters such as pH, agitation time and Mo(VI) concentration have been studied in batch experiments for the two materials firstly. The maximum adsorption of Mo(VI) occurred at pH 4.0 for cinder, and 3.0 for pyrite. Kinetic studies showed that Mo(VI) adsorption by the two materials generally obeyed a pseudo second-order model. Furthermore, application of Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models to the adsorption equilibrium data showed that the adsorption behavior obeyed the Langmuir model. The adsorption capacity of cinder and pyrite was found to be 3.01 and 8.35 mg Mo(VI)/g adsorbent. Subsequently, three flow-through columns (Column 1#, V_pyrite : V_cinder = 2:1; Column 2#, V_pyrite : V_cinder = 1:1; Column 3#, V_pyrite : V_cinder = 1:2) were operated for the removal of Mo(VI) for six months. Results indicated the average removal efficiency of Mo(VI) by Column 1# were 47.68%, by Column 2# were 50.03%, and by Column 3# were 23.34%, respectively. Therefore, the pyrite-cinder mixture (V_pyrite : V_cinder = 1:1) proven to be a feasible and cost-efficient treatment technology for Mo(VI) removal.

Keywords

Mo(VI) Removal, Adsorption, Batch and Column Tests, Cinder Pyrite.

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