Removal of Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺, and Zn²⁺ from contaminated water using dolomite powder

Abstract

Dolomite collected from Surat Thani Province in Thailand was investigated for use as a sorbent for the removal of divalent heavy metal cations from an aqueous solution. The sorbent had a surface area of 2.46 m2/g and a pH of zero point charge (pHzpc) of 9.2. Batch sorption was used to examine the effect of the pH (pH 3–7) on the sorption capacity of Cd2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+, alone or together as an equimolar mixture at various concentrations. Alone, each heavy metal cation was adsorbed faster at a higher pH, where the sorption of Cd2+ and Pb2+ fitted a Langmuir isotherm, but Zn2+ sorption best fitted a Freundlich isotherm. Under equimolar competitive sorption, the sorption capacity of each cation was decreased by 75.8% (0.29–0.07 mM/g), 82.8% (0.53–0.09 mM/g), and 95.7% (0.84–0.04 mM/g) for Cd2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+, respectively, compared to that with the respective single cation. Desorption of these heavy metal cations from dolomite was low, with an average desorption level of 0.06–17.4%. Furthermore, since dolomite is readily available and rather cheap, it is potentially suitable for use as an efficient sorbent to sorb Cd2+ and Pb2+, and perhaps Zn2+, from contaminated water.