Abstract—A novel carbonaceous adsorbent with heavy metal removal from aqueous solution was prepared from cedar bark using sulfur impregnation. The bark was cut to 1 cm pieces, and then immersed in 0.01 - 3 M K
2S solution to prepare sulfur-immersed materials. The immersed-materials were heated at 100-700
oC in nitrogen gas to produce the sulfur-impregnated carbonaceous adsorbent by pyrolysis. The contents of carbon and sulfur in the adsorbent and abilities of adsorbent to remove heavy metals from aqueous solution were examined. The sulfur content in sulfur-immersed materials is higher than that in raw material by sulfur-immersion, while the carbon content in sulfur-immersed materials is almost the same as that in raw material. After pyrolysis, the product prepared from cedar bark immersed in 1 M K
2S solution at 400
oC indicates a maximum recovery for nickel ion, regardless of sulfur content. This product has the removal ability of the heavy metals, Zn
2+, Cu
2+, Ni
2+, Pb
2+, Cd
2+, Fe
3+ and Fe
2+. The equilibrium adsorption capacity of the adsorbent for heavy metal ions fits the Langmuir isotherm better than the Freundlich isotherm, and the calculated maximum adsorption capacity is 0.30 - 0.74 mmol/g. The order of selectivity of the adsorbent indicates Pb
2+ > Fe
2+ > Cu
2+ > Zn
2+> Cd
2+ > Ni
2+ > Fe
3+. For adsorption of iron ion with the adsorbent, the adsorption for divalent Fe
2+ is superior to that for trivalent Fe
3+, while influence of co-existing anion species for the adsorption with sulfur-impregnated adsorbent is little.
Index Terms—Cedar bark, sulfur-impregnated adsorbent, pyrolysis, heavy metal removal, wastewater treatment.
Takaaki Wajima is with the Department of Urban Environment Systems, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Japan (e-mail: wajima@tu.chiba-u.ac.jp).
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Cite: Takaaki Wajima, "Preparation of Carbonaceous Heavy Metal Adsorbent from Cedar Bark Using Sulfur-Impregnation," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 272-276, 2017.
