Equilibrium isotherm modeling of cesium adsorption onto magnetic materials

The present work investigates the adsorptive interactions of Cs ions with natural magnetite and synthesized iron ferrite in aqueous medium. The applied adsorbents were characterized by FTIR and DTA/TGA analyses. Batch adsorption studies were performed to evaluate the influences of various experimental parameters like initial pH, contact time and initial concentration on the removal of Cs. The adsorption is strongly dependent on pH of the medium where the removal efficiency increases as the pH turns to alkaline range. The process was very fast initially and maximum adsorption was attained within 60 min of contact. The adsorption process follows a pseudo-second order kinetics with rate constant amounted to 76.83 x 10(4) and 18.75 x 10(4)g mg(-1)h(-1) with ferrite and magnetite. The presence of interfering cations seriously decreases the extent of Cs adsorption. The equilibrium data of Cs adsorption on both adsorbents were analyzed using the Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin, Dubinin-Radushkevich and Redlich-Peterson isotherm models. The different isotherms constants were determined from the linearzed form of their equations and used to characterize Cs distribution on adsorbent surfaces and provide adopted information about the affinity of the adsorbents towards Cs ions. The values of Langmuir separation factor indicate a favorable Cs adsorption. The apparent free energies from the Dubinin-Radushkevich are 32.29 and 27.51 kJ mol(-1) for Cs adsorption onto iron ferrite and magnetite, respectively.