Adsorption Characteristics of Heavy Metals by Various Forest Humic Substances

Various forest humic substances were collected at different climate regions with different forest types, and adsorption of heavy metals such as Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Cr(III) were characteristically conducted to obtain optimal adsorption conditions and to evaluate the removal efficiency of heavy metals by each forest humic substance. The adsorption isotherms for Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Cr(III) conformed to Langmuir's equation. In the stirred reactor, the removal efficiencies of Cu(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) by forest humic substances were more than 90% but that of Cr(III) was less than 60%. The adsorption capacities of heavy metals in the stirred reactor were considerably varied depending on the type of forest humic substances. Among humic substances, the one from deciduous forest at subtropical region showed the highest removal efficiency for Cu(II). There was no significant difference in removal efficiency by each heavy metal depending on reaction temperature ranged from 20 to 50oC except for Cr(III), and the adsorptions of Cu(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) were occurred rapidly in the incipient stage within 10 min, while Cr(III) needed more reaction time to be adsorbed. The stirred and packed bed column reactors showed similar adsorption characteristics of heavy metals by humic substances, but the removal efficiency was considerably higher in the packed bed column reactor than in the stirred reactor. Therefore, in actual operation process, a continuous packed bed column reactor was more economical.