Preparation and Characterization of Fe-Zr Binary Magnetic Adsorbent for Arsenate Removal

The preparation, characterization and application of a Fe-Zr binary magnetic adsorbent for the adsorption of arsenate from aqueous solution was studied in this paper. The binary magnetic sorbent, which is formed by co-precipitation of iron and zirconium, has a mean diameter of 543.7 nm, specific surface area of 151 m²/g, and pH_zpc of 7. The thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and elemental analyzer were used to analyze the composition of the adsorbent. The results show that the sorbent has an atomic ratio of Zr: Fe: O = 1:5:9 with 1.12% and 8.5% (w/w) of hydrogen and water residual, respectively. The Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analyses reveal that the crystalline characteristic of the sorbent isn't the same as neither magnetite nor zirconia. Batch adsorption experiments shows the sorbent can be used to effectively remove arsenate ions from aqueous solution. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and XPS analyses were used to reveal the adsorption mechanism of arsenate onto the binary adsorbent.