Adsorption of zinc onto bed sediments of the River Ganga: adsorption models and kinetics

A laboratory study was performed to study the effects of various operating factors, viz. initial metal ion concentration, solution pH, amount of sediment, contact time, particle size and temperature on the adsorption of zinc ions onto the bed sediments of the River Ganga (India). The equilibrium time was found to be of the order of 60 min. The adsorption curves are smooth and continuous leading to saturation, suggesting the possible monolayer coverage of zinc ions on the surface of the adsorbent. The extent of adsorption increases with an increase of pH. Furthermore the adsorption of zinc increases with increasing amount of adsorbent and decreases with adsorbent particle size. The important geochemical phases, iron and manganese oxide act as the active support material for the adsorption of zinc ions. The adsorption data have been analysed with the help of Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models to determine the mechanistic parameters associated with the adsorption process. An attempt has also been made to determine thermodynamic parameters of the process, viz. free energy change, enthalpy change and entropy change. The negative values of free energy change (AG") indicated the spontaneous nature of the adsorption of zinc onto the bed sediments and positive values of enthalpy change (Aff°) suggest the endothermic nature of the adsorption process. The intraparticle diffusion of zinc in the adsorbent was found to be the main rate-limiting step.