Abstract
The high demand for rare earth elements (REEs) used in various advanced materials implies demand for increased production of REEs or the recycling of solutions to recover the REEs they contain. In this study, the biosorption of Pr(III) from aqueous solution by bark powder of Terminalia arjuna was examined in a batch system as a function of metal concentration, biosorbent dosage, pH and contact time. Results showed that T. arjuna bark powder has a high affinity for adsorbing Pr(III): more than 90% at pH 6.63. The adsorption of Pr(III) by T. arjuna bark powder was investigated by the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models. The kinetics of the biosorption process was tested with pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models, and the results showed that the biosorption process was better fitted to the pseudo-second-order model. From FT-IR analysis, it is confirmed that the biomolecules of T. arjuna bark powder are involved in the biosorption process of Pr(III) metal ions.
- adsorption
- isotherms
- kinetics
- praseodymium
- rare earth metal
- Terminalia arjuna
- First received 6 June 2017.
- Accepted in revised form 7 November 2017.
- © IWA Publishing 2017
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