Abstract
In this study, 2-mercaptopropionic acid was incorporated into hydrous zirconium oxide matrix to prepare 2-mercaptopropionic acid/ hydrous zirconium oxide (MPA/HZO) composite and applied to eliminate Pb(II) from aqueous environment. MPA/HZO was characterized by FTIR, TGA-DTA and SEM with EDX. Response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized for optimizing the independent variables affecting the uptake of Pb(II)). The maximum efficiency was reached at an equilibrating time of 40 min. At the optimum conditions (pH:6.8; contact time: 40 min; adsorbent dose: 0.016 g; initial concentration: 60 mg/L), 99.37% Pb(II) was successfully eliminated. Nonlinear regression analysis was applied for the investigation of isotherm and kinetic equations. Langmuir isotherm model with R-2 > 0.99 was best fit model to demonstrate the adsorption of Pb(II) onto MPA/HZO. The maximum Langmuir adsorption capacity (q(m)) was 128.50 mg/g. Pseudo-second order kinetic model with R-2 > 0.999 illustrated its best fitting to the kinetic data. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).