Investigating adsorption performance of heavy metals onto humic acid from sludge using Fourier-transform infrared combined with two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2019-04, Vol.26 (10), p.9842-9850
• Main Authors: Yang, Yi-jin, Wang, Bin, Guo, Xu-jing, Zou, Chang-wu, Tan, Xian-dong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Copper; Data processing; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Fourier transforms; Functional groups; Heavy metals; Humic acids; Humic Substances - analysis; Infrared spectroscopy; Lead; Metal ions; Metals; Metals, Heavy - analysis; Metals, Heavy - chemistry; Nickel; Research Article; Resource utilization; Sewage - chemistry; Sewage treatment; Sewage treatment plants; Sludge; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Spectrum analysis; Two dimensional analysis; Waste Water Technology; Wastewater treatment plants; Water Management; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - chemistry; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-04445-2

Efforts to improve sludge resource utilization have become increasingly important. In this study, humic acid (HA) was extracted from sludge samples collected from a sewage treatment plant, and then used for the adsorption of heavy metals. We used two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) integrated with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to explore the adsorption between sludge HA (HA) and three metal ions (Cu, Ni, and Pb). The resulting adsorbing data conformed to the isotherm of Langmuir adsorption. The maximum capacity values ( q m ) were 5.34, 1.49, and 26.29.8 mg/g for Cu, Ni, and Pb, respectively. The data from 2D-FTIR-COS analysis showed that the susceptibility of the functional group followed the order 2300 → 1130 → 1330 → 1480 → 1580 cm −1 for Cu(II) and Ni(II), and 2300 → 1130 → 1330 → 1480 → 1200 → 1580 cm −1 for Pb(II). The sludge HA with Pb(II) showed more adsorption sites than sludge HA with Cu(II) and Ni(II), and these adsorption sites could preferentially bond with Pb(II) at ×  1 compared with Cu(II) and Ni(II). Our findings indicate that 2D-FTIR-COS technology has great potential for application as a useful tool for understanding the adsorption mechanism between adsorbents with heavy metals.