Comparsion of Heavy Metals Sorbents

Katerina Atkovska, Aleksandar Petrovski, Gordana Ruseska, Bosko Boskovski,
Perica Paunovik, Kiril Lisickov, Anita Grozdanov

Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University Ss Cyril and Methodius in Skopje,
Republic of Macedonia

Rapid development of industry and urbanization lead to an increase in the amount of various waste (solid, liquid and gaseous emissions). Air, water and soil pollution is a worldwide issue for the eco-environment and human society. Removal of various pollutants, especially heavy metals from the environment is a big challenge. Most of the heavy metals are toxic and their ions are not biodegradable with the tendency to accumulate in the soil and in the living organisms, and hence they are significant environmental pollutants. Therefore, the treatment of the heavy metal ions and their elimination from water and wastewater is very important for environmental protection, and thus the public health. Adsorption is the most commonly used method for removal of the heavy metal ions from large volumes of aqueous solutions. There are a number of materials that can be applied as adsorbents for heavy metals. Besides the conventional materials used as adsorbents for removing heavy metals from aqueous systems, in recent years, there is a great interest in creating and upgrading new sorption materials for effective removal of these pollutants. The development of nanotechnology enables nanomaterials to find wide application for wastewater treatment, in particular those materials based on carbon, such as graphene and carbon nanotubes. There is a growing number of researches that prove the effectiveness of nanomaterials for adsorption of heavy metal ions. In this paper we will review the comparison of the adsorption abilities of graphene, carbon nanotubes and their modified forms in heavy metal elimination. Also, in this study, graphene, synthesized in our laboratory, marked as G-ASP2, was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X - ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT - IR), Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). In the future, our aim is to investigate the adsorption effectiveness of graphene, G-ASP2, and its modified forms, in the removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions.

Key words: heavy metal, adsorption, nanomaterials, graphene, carbon nanotubes

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