SORPTION OF COPPER AND ZINC BY GOETHITE AND HEMATITE

Abstract

In the present work, the abilities of natural and synthetic samples of goethite and hematite to remove copper Cu(II) ) and zinc Zn(II) ions from aqueous solutions were compared. Batch adsorption experiments were performed in order to evaluate the removal efficiency of iron oxide samples. The effect of initial metal ion concentration, initial pH and time on adsorption of copper and zinc onto the iron oxides has been studied. The sorption data were represented by the linearized Langmuir model. Comparing the values of adsorption capacities, there were differences between the natural and synthetic samples, natural and synthetic goethite had higher sorption capacity for both metals than hematite. The copper ions showed higher affinity than zinc ions to all samples.