Question

What type of Adsorbents you can use for In Situ Treatment of Wastewater in Mine Tailing Ponds?

Give 5 different names of chemicals that used as Adsorbents and small explanation on each with examples.

(Note: Firstly, the adsorbents sink in water and potentially be used to remove toxic pollutants at the bottom of tailing dams and then float after a certain time, so that the adsorbents can remove from water)

Answer 1

1. Activated Carbon -  Carbons are the oldest and most widely used adsorbents. They have high surface area and developed porosity especially after activation process. Activated carbon is carbon produced from carbonaceous source materials such as nutshells, peat, wood, coir, lignite, coal, and petroleum pitch. It can be produced by physical or chemical activation.
2. Activated Alumina - Activated alumina is manufactured from aluminium hydroxide by de-hydroxylating it in a way that produces a highly porous material.
3. Zeolite - Among all the inorganic ion-exchange adsorbents zeolites have the best properties. They have large surface area and high affinity to many metal ions. However, modified zeolites exhibit better adsorption properties than unmodified.
4. Silica Gel - Silica gels adsorbed effectively vapors of many organic substances along with water. This property used for recovery of gasoline, benzene, ether, acetone, etc. vapors from air and natural gas.
5. Biosorbents - Materials such as agricultural residues, algae, and microbial species can be used as biosorbents. There are some reviews about agricultural residues as potential adsorbents for wastewaters treatment of organic compounds and toxic metals.