Abstract
Several metal ions were tested for their adsorption on crosslinked pectic acid gel, where the selectivity order of some metal ions existing as cationic species in water were as follows: Ce(IV) > Ti(IV) ∼Zr(III) >Fe(III) ∼La(III) ∼Cu(II) >Ce(III) >Al(III) ∼ Zn(II). Some of them were loaded on the pectic acid gel and tested for As(V) removal by batch wise adsorption test, whereas, Fe(III)- and Ce(III)- loaded crosslinked pectic acid gels were employed for batch as well as column adsorption test at pH ca. 2. as these gels showed the maximum adsorption capacities for As(V) as high as 0.61 mol/kg and 0.68mol/kg-dry gels, respectively. The study also revealed that Zr(IV) would be remarkably competent metal ion to be adsorbed on pectic acid gel. The adsorption of As(V) on the metal loaded gel tested in this study were found to be unaffected by other anions like chloride, sulphate or both. On the other hand, elution was also found to be successful using either 1M HCl or strongly alkaline solution. Thus, pectic acid, consequently, could offer promising technology for removing As(V) effectively from aquatic environment.
