Kinetic Study of Lead Adsorption to Composite Biopolymer Adsorbent

A kinetic study of lead adsorption to composite biopolymer adsorbents was carried out. Spherical and membranous adsorbents containing two biopolymers, humic acid and alginic acid, were used for lead adsorption in dilute acidic solutions. The shrinking core model derived by M. G. Rao and A. K. Gupta (Chem. Eng. J. 24, 181, 1982) was applied to describe the rate process of lead adsorption to spherical adsorbents (average radii of 0.12, 0.15, and 0.16 cm). Furthermore, the shrinking core model was modified and adapted for description of the rate process of lead adsorption to membranous adsorbent (average thickness of 0.0216 cm). The adsorption rate process for the both cases was well described and average apparent lead diffusion coefficients of about 6 x 10(-6) and 7 x 10(-6) cm2 s-1 were found for the spherical and membranous adsorbents, respectively. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.