Regeneration of spent TiO₂ nanoparticles for Pb (II), Cu (II), and Zn (II) removal

Hu, Jinxuan; Shipley, Heather J.

Regeneration of spent TiO₂ nanoparticles for Pb (II), Cu (II), and Zn (II) removal

2013

Hu, Jinxuan | Shipley, Heather J.

Spent sorbents in water treatment processes have potential risks to the environment if released without proper treatment. The aim of this work was to investigate the potential regeneration of commercially prepared nano-TiO (anatase) for the removal of Pb (II), Cu (II), and Zn (II) by pH 2 and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) solutions. The percent of metal adsorption/desorption decreased with the increasing number of regeneration cycles, and the extent of decrease varied for each metal. Competitive effects were observed for the adsorption/desorption of different metals when the nano-TiO was regenerated by EDTA solutions. Nano-TiO was able to treat simulated metal polluted water with greater than 94 % adsorption and greater than 92 % desorption after four cycles of regeneration using pH 2 solution. These results demonstrated that nano-TiO can be regenerated and reused using pH 2 solution compared to an EDTA solution for aquatic metal removal, which makes nanosorbents promising and economically and environmentally more attractive in the application of water purification.

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