Good day
I am adsorbing copper(II) ions from solution( synthetic solution at 0.05M concentration) . I just noticed that the adsorption is dependent on the pH.I then decided to vary pH from 1 to 9. When I mix the bio-char or activated carbon, there is bluish lumpy stuff that forms, I assumed the bluish stuff to be precipitate formation. The bluish stuff appears when pH is greater than 6. when I filter the solution the filtrate is now colorless and when analyzed using ICP-OES or AAS it would give 99% efficiency of copper removal.
The literature I go through says that the higher the pH, % copper removal decreases. Since the 99% efficiency of copper removal could be as a result of increased pH, can I still interpret the results saying that 99% copper has been adsorbed by the activated bio-char?
you must know the distribution pattern of Cu species following the pH, you will know what form the Cu ionic or oxidized forms.
Otherwise simply by doing the same manipulation under the same conditions, without adsorbent by modifying the PH from 1 to 12 (a blank) and after 2 hours (or the time that usually lasts your test) you dose the contents of Cu in the solutions, any variation in concentration would be to the precipitation
this will allow you to estimate the proportion of Cu that has precipitated.
you must know the distribution pattern of Cu species following the pH, you will know what form the Cu ionic or oxidized forms.
Otherwise simply by doing the same manipulation under the same conditions, without adsorbent by modifying the PH from 1 to 12 (a blank) and after 2 hours (or the time that usually lasts your test) you dose the contents of Cu in the solutions, any variation in concentration would be to the precipitation
this will allow you to estimate the proportion of Cu that has precipitated.
Dear Mpho,
The simplest way of determining this is to use blank samples for each copper concentration and pH value during the experiments. In the method, the only difference is that there is no adsorbent in the blank samples. The difference between the results you get from the blanks and the results you get from the samples that contain the adsorbent will show you real removal efficiency of your adsorbent that you used.
Good luck.
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