title: Aluminum drinking water treatment residuals (Al-WTRs) as sorbent for mercury: Implications for soil remediation.
abstract: The potential of readily available and non-hazardous waste material, aluminum drinking water treatment residuals (Al-WTRs), to efficiently sorb and immobilize mercury (Hg) from aqueous solutions was evaluated. Al-WTR samples with average specific surface area of 48m(2)/g and internal micropore surface area of 120m(2)/g were used in a series of batch sorption experiments. Obtained sorption isotherms indicated a strong affinity of Hg for Al-WTRs. Using the Langmuir adsorption model, a relatively high maximum sorption capacity of 79mg Hg/g Al-WTRs was determined. Sorption kinetic data was best fit to a pseudo-first-order model, while the use of the Weber-Morris and Bangham models suggested that the intraparticle diffusion could be the rate-limiting step. Also, Al-WTRs effectively immoblized Hg in the pH range of 3-8. The results from these short-term experiments demonstrate that Al-WTRs can be effectively used to remove Hg from aqueous solutions. This ability points to the potential of Al-WTRs as a sorbent in soil remediation techniques based on Hg-immobilization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, P.O. Box 116450, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-6450, USA. annah17@ufl.edu
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hovsepyan
authors.forename: Jean-Claude J
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Bonzongo
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000535:Aluminum / Q000737:chemistry*; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007700:Kinetics; D008628:Mercury / Q000737:chemistry*; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D000535:Aluminum; D008628:Mercury