Lesley Joseph

Date of Award

Spring 2021

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

First Advisor

Yeomin Yoon

Abstract

Heavy metal contamination is a growing concern throughout the world, particularly as industrial and urban activities have increased. Inadequate water and wastewater treatment, coupled with increased industrial activity, have led to increased heavy metal contamination in rivers, lakes, and other water sources in developing countries. To address these concerns, a significant amount of research has been conducted on various novel adsorbents to evaluate their ability to remove heavy metals. Thus, in this study, MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-101(Cr) are fabricated and investigated to determine their ability to remove copper (Cu2+), cadmium (Cd2+), and lead (Pb2+) from aqueous solution. The experimental data fit most closely to the Freundlich model, followed closely by the Linear isotherm model. However, the values for the Freundlich parameter n were close to 1, which suggests that the adsorption followed the Linear isotherm model. The KLIN coefficient [(mg/g)/(mg/L)] for the Linear isotherm model was the largest for Cu2+, followed by Cd2+ and Pb2+. MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-101(Cr) exhibited fast adsorption kinetics, achieving equilibrium in approximately 0.5 hours. Electrostatic interactions were determined to be the dominant adsorption mechanism for the removal of Cu2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+ by MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-101(Cr), which is consistent with similar adsorption studies. This study shows that MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-101(Cr) are effective adsorbents for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solution.

Rights

© 2021, Lesley Joseph

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