Selected Heavy Metals Removal From Electroplating Wastewater by Purified and Polyhydroxylbutyrate Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes Adsorbents

This research investigated the removal of heavy metals (As, Pb, Cr, Cd, Ni, Cu, Fe, and Zn) via batch adsorption process from industrial electroplating wastewater using two different nano-adsorbents; purified carbon nanotubes (P-CNTs) and polyhydroxylbutyrate functionalized carbon nanotubes (PHB-CNTs), both produced through catalytic chemical vapour deposition (CCVD) method. HRSEM, HRTEM, XRD, DLS, BET, FTIR, XPS, TGA, pH drift and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the developed nano-adsorbents. In the batch adsorption process, the effects of contact time, dosage, temperature and pH were studied. Both nano-adsorbents gave optimum contact time, equilibrium time, optimum dosage, and pH of 10 minutes, 70 minutes, 20 mg, and 5.63–5.65 respectively. The heavy metals removal efficiencies by the nano-adsorbents followed the order of PHB-CNTs > P-CNTs based on ion exchange and electrostatic forces mechanism. For P-CNTs and PHB-CNTs, the equilibrium sorption isotherm suits temkin model, kinetic data fitted to pseudo-second order based on the linear regression correlation coefficient, and the thermodynamic study established spontaneity and endothermic nature of the adsorption process. The findings in this research conclude that both nano-adsorbents have exceptional capacity to remove heavy metals from the adsorbate, with PHB-CNTs possessing better quality. The treated adsorbate meets the standard for industrial or irrigation re-use.