Applicability Assessment of Acid Treated Red Mud as Adsorbent Material for Removal of Six-valent Chromium from Seawater

Six-valent chromium ($Cr^{6+}$) is a highly toxic pollutant, supplied in a variety of industrial activities such as leather tanning, cooling tower blowdown, and plating. Herein, we investigated the removal of $Cr^{6+}$ from aqueous phase using low-cost adsorbents. Steel slag, montmorillonite, illite, kaolinite, red mud, and acid treated red mud with 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 M HCl were used as adsorbent for the removal of $Cr^{6+}$ and the results showed that acid treated red mud with 2.0 M HCl (ATRM-2.0 M) had higher adsorption capacity of $Cr^{6+}$ than other adsorbents used. Accordingly, $Cr^{6+}$ removal by ATRM-2.0 M were studied in a batch system with respect to changes in initial concentration of $Cr^{6+}$, initial solution pH, adsorbent dose, adsorbent mixture, and seawater. Equilibrium sorption data were described well by Freundlich isotherm model. The influence of initial solution pH on $Cr^{6+}$ adsorption was insignificant. The use of the ATRM-2.0 M alone was more effective than mixing it with other adsorbents including red mud, zeolite, oyster shell, lime stone, and montmorillonite for the removal of $Cr^{6+}$. The $Cr^{6+}$ removal of the ATRM-2.0 M was slightly less in seawater than deionized water, resulting from the presence of anions in seawater competing for the favorable adsorption site on the surface of ATRM-2.0 M. It was concluded that the ATRM-2.0 M can be used as a potential adsorbent for the removal of $Cr^{6+}$ from the aqueous solutions.

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