Sorption of La(III) and Ce(III) by oxidized carbon nanotubes

The ion-exchange sorption of La(III) and Ce(III) from nitrate solutions using oxidized carbon nanotubes with a solubility of 4.2 g/L is studied at metal concentration С = 5–160 mg/L, рН 2.5–6.0, ratio S: L = 0.002–0.06, and room temperature. At С = 35 mg/L, the equilibrium capacity is shown to grow dramatically with рН rising from 3.0 to 4.0–4.5 and reaching 840 mg/g in La and 950 mg/g in Се when S: L < 0.006 and рН > 4.0–4.5. The introduction of ionic salts is found to reduce the capacity (at рН > 4 and concentrations of 0.01 М and 0.1 М NaCl, the Се capacity is reduced to ~500 and ~200 mg/g). It is concluded that the sorption equilibrium is better described by the Langmuir equation, while the process kinetics, by pseudo-first and pseudo-second order equations.