Batch desalination of Gulf of Oman diluted salt water using newly prepared graphene oxide-copper oxide nanocomposite

摘要

In this study, graphene oxide-copper oxide (GO-CuO) based efficient nanocomposite was synthesized for the enhanced desalination of Gulf of Oman saline water. The adsorbent was characterized by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller-Barrett-JoynerHalenda (BET-BJH) techniques. The specific surface area was found to be 76.95 m(2)/g for newly fabricated nanocomposite using BET technique. Desalination of seawater was carried out under batch adsorption of Na+ and K+ using GO-CuO nanocomposite. Additionally, effective parameters on desalination process such as contact time, initial concentration, temperature and pH were comprehensively analyzed. The removal efficiency values for Na+ and K+ using 0.1 g of GO-CuO as an adsorbent were obtained as 96.74% and 82.47%, respectively, within 30 min at pH = 7.2. Moreover, the adsorption equilibrium and contact time data were fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model, respectively. The analysis from these models suggested monolayer adsorption pattern following a physisorption mechanism for Na+ and K+ ions uptake using GO-CuO nanocomposite.