Abstract
Heavy metal pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems today. The treatment of heavy metals is of special concern due to their recalcitrance and persistence in the Qenvironment. Ferric oxide nanoparticles were synthesized and were used for the removal of Pb(II), Mn(II) and Zn(II) from aqueous solution. The properties of this adsorbent were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, transmission electron microscopic (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the specific surface area, average particle size pore volume and pore diameter of the catalyst samples prepared were determined by N2 adsorption at-196 degrees C. Experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of different sorption parameters, such as contact time, initial concentration of adsorbate, the concentration of Fe2O3 nanocatalyst and competitive adsorption behavior. It was observed that ferric oxides prepared by organic solvent method is more active than that prepared by precipitation and microwave method. The results showed that the first-order reaction law fits the reduction of metal ions, which shows good linear relationship, and the correlation coefficient (R) is larger than 0.9.