title: Removal of cadmium ions from wastewater using innovative electronic waste-derived material.
abstract: Cadmium is a highly toxic heavy metal even at a trace level. In this study, a novel material derived from waste PCBs has been applied as an adsorbent to remove cadmium ions from aqueous solutions. The effects of various factors including contact time, initial cadmium ion concentration, pH and adsorbent dosage have been evaluated. The maximum uptake capacity of the newly derived material for cadmium ions has reached 2.1mmol/g at an initial pH 4. This value shows that this material can effectively remove cadmium ions from effluent. The equilibrium isotherm has been analyzed using several isotherm equations and is best described by the Redlich-Peterson model. Furthermore, different commercial adsorbent resins have been studied for comparison purposes. The results further confirm that this activated material is highly competitive with its commercial counterparts.
authors.affiliation: Fok Ying Tung Graduate School, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Electronic address: mxuac@ust.hk.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Electronic address: kehadi@ust.hk.
authors.forename: Pejman
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hadi
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Electronic address: kechengh@ust.hk.
authors.forename: Guohua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Electronic address: kemckayg@ust.hk.
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McKay
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002104:Cadmium / Q000737:chemistry*; D003201:Computers; D059029:Electronic Waste; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002104:Cadmium; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Adsorption isotherms; Cadmium removal; Ion exchange; Waste printed circuit boards