Adsorption of Pb(II), Cr(III), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Ni(II) onto a vanadium mine tailing from aqueous solution

The adsorption of heavy metal cations Pb(II), Cr(III), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Ni(II) from aqueous solution by a mine tailing which mainly contains muscovite was investigated. The property of the mineral was investigated by using SEM, FT-IR, XRD and BET analysis. pH(pzc) was measured by an titration technique to give a value of 5.4+/-0.1. Kinetics experiments indicated that the processes can be simulated by pseudo-second-order model. Total adsorption amounts of the heavy metal increased, while the adsorption density decreased when the solid-to-liquid ratio (S/L) increased. Grain size did not affect the adsorption capacity significantly. The resulting isotherms can be described by Frendlich relationship. And the maximum adsorption capacity (molar basis) followed the order of Cr(III)>Pb(II)>Cu(II)>Ni(II)>Cd(II). Thermodynamic analysis showed that the adsorption processed were endothermic and may be chemical in nature with positive DeltaH(0). The positive DeltaS(0) suggested that dissociative processed were involved. Small positive DeltaG(0) suggested that the adsorption processes required a small amount of energy. Adsorption processes were slightly affected by electrolyte ion concentration but strongly dependent on pH value. The most possible mechanism of the adsorption processes involve the inner-sphere-complexions by the aluminol or silanol groups on the surface of the mineral.