Chromium(VI) adsorption onto boehmite nanoparticles obtained by cost effective “green” synthesis

Mesoporous boehmite nanopowder was prepared by a simple route and used as an efficient adsorbent for chromium(VI) removal. Chromium(VI) is considered to be potentially carcinogenic to humans, thus, removal of Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solution is of great importance. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to study the effects of contact time and initial concentration of Cr(VI). The boehmite prepared by neutralization of sodium aluminate solution from Bayer liquor and glucose as nonionic surfactant is environmentally friendly material for potential industrial scale production. It has the high specific surface area (296 m 2 /g) and high adsorption capacity (32.92 mg/g after 72 h) for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions. This high removal percentage is in an excellent agreement with the capacity calculated by the pseudo-second order model (33.11 mg/g). The equilibrium isotherm data fitted well with the Langmuir model ( R 2 = 0.996), suggesting a uniform surface nature of the prepared nanoparticles.