Removal of chromium and strontium from aqueous solutions by adsorption on laterite

To investigate the adsorptive properties of a local laterite deposited in Chenzhou, Hunan province, China, the adsorptive properties of the natural laterite were investigated by batch technique in this study. The effects of contact time, pH, ionic strength, temperature, and the concentration on adsorption properties were also analyzed. The obtained experimental results show that the main mineral composition of laterite is kaolinite and montmorillonite. The adsorption process achieved equilibrium within 60 minutes and 90 minutes for Sr(II) and Cr(VI), respectively. The adsorption capacities for Cr(VI) and Sr(II) by the laterite were about 7.25 mg·g-1 and 8.35 mg·g-1 under the given experimental conditions, respectively. The equilibrium adsorption data were fitted to the second-order kinetic equation. The adsorption capacity for Sr(II) onto the laterite increased with increasing pH from 3–11 but decreased with increasing ionic strength from 0.001 to 1.0 M NaCl. The Sr(II) adsorption reaction on laterite was endothermic and the process of adsorption was favored at high temperature. Similarly, the adsorption capacity for Cr(VI) onto the laterite increased with increasing pH from 3–11, however, the ionic strength and temperature had an insignificant effect on Cr(VI) adsorption. The adsorption of Cr(VI) and Sr(II) was dominated by ion exchange and surface complexation in this work. Furthermore, the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm model was used for the description of the adsorption process. The results suggest that the studied laterite samples can be effectively used for the treatment of contaminated wastewaters.