Removal of chromium from aqueous solutions by adsorption on activated alumina

The increasing contamination of urban and industrial wastewaters by toxic metal ions causes significant environmental pollution. All over the world, chromium is abundantly available in nature (rocks, soil, plants); it is present in aqueous solutions mainly in Cr III and Cr VI oxidation states which are commonly used in various industrial processes. Chromium especially in its VI oxidation state is considered as a very toxic ion; thus, its elimination from aqueous solutions should be considered an environmental primary target. The removal of chromium VI from aqueous solutions by activated alumina has been investigated as a function of solution pH, initial chromium concentration, adsorbent dose of alumina and temperature. The pH and the adsorbent dose of activated alumina are the most significant parameter affecting chromium VI adsorption. The Freundlich and Langmuir models have been applied and the equilibrium adsorption was found to best fit the Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption isotherm. A comparison of kinetic models applied to the adsorption of chromium VI on activated alumina was evaluated for the pseudo first-order and the pseudo second-order models respectively. Results show that the pseudo second-order kinetic model was found to correlate the experimental data well.