Hafez Golstanifar, Simin Nasseri, Amir Hossin Mahvi, Mohamad Hadi Dehghani, Anvar Asadi ,
Volume 5, Issue 4 (15 2013)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The contamination of nitrate (NO3−) in groundwater resources causes two adverse health effects: induction of “blue-baby syndrome” (methemoglobinemia), especially in infants, and the potential formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines. The aim of this research is to investigate nitrate removal from groundwater using alumina nanoparticles and to determine the adsorption isotherms.
Materials and Methods: This analytical-descriptive study was carried out at lab-scale, under batch conditions, and at room-temperature. The structure of alumina nanoparticles was determined using XRD, SEM, and TEM techniques. The concentration of nitrate in the solutions was determined by spectrophotometer at wavelengths of 220 and 275 nm. In addition, we investigated the impact of the important operational parameters including initial dose of Al2O3 (0.06-0.25 g/l), initial concentration of the solution (50- 300 mg/l), contact time (5-60 min), and pH (3-9). Moreover, we used Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models to calculate equilibrium constant.
Results: It was found that nitrate removal efficiency increased as we increased contact time, initial concentration and pH in batch system. A maximum of 60% nitrate removal was achieved under following conditions: 60 min contact time, pH 5, and initial nitrate concentration of 300 mg/l as N. The obtained results showed that the adsorption of nitrate by Nano-Gamma-Alumina follows Langmuir isotherm equation with a correlation coefficient equal to 0.982.
Conclusion: Overall, our findings showed that the alumina nanoparticles can be used as an effective adsorbent to remove NO3 from aqueous solutions.
