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Title: Mechanistic Study of Lead Adsorption on Activated Carbon

Journal Article · · Langmuir
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Stevens Inst. of Technology, Hoboken, NJ (United States). Center for Environmental Systems
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
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Activated carbon (AC) is a carbonaceous material broadly applied in filters to remove lead (Pb(II)) from drinking water through adsorption. However, the chemical interactions between Pb(II) and the reactive sites on AC or other carbonaceous materials are not well understood, yet. The understanding of the mechanism of Pb(II) adsorption onto AC would allow to optimally design AC-based materials even in the presence of a complex liquid phase. Here in this paper, the interaction between Pb(II) and functional groups on AC was investigated at the molecular scale to help identifying the chemical reactions at the solid-liquid interface. Spectroscopic analyses and chemical quantum calculations were performed and indicated the formation of monodentate mononuclear Pb(II)-phenol and bidentate mononuclear Pb(II)-carboxyl complexes on AC. Competitive adsorption behavior was observed between Pb(II) and calcium (Ca(II)) because of their similar adsorption configurations on AC. In contrast, anions, including sulfate and phosphate, were observed to enhance Pb(II) adsorption on AC by forming ternary complexes. On the basis of these observations, a new surface complexation model of Pb(II) adsorption onto AC was formulated and validated with batch tests. Overall, this work presents a new set of chemical reactions at the solid-liquid interface between Pb(II) and AC under various conditions of interest for the application of AC or other carbonaceous materials in water treatment.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1484205
Journal Information:
Langmuir, Vol. 34, Issue 45; ISSN 0743-7463
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 35 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables (8)

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
activated carbon
density functional theory
inner-sphere complex
lead
spectroscopy