Use of Loess as Adsorbent for Recovery of Li+ from Seawater

摘要

In this study, a natural loess soil was evaluated as an adsorbent of Li+ in seawater. Only Li+ was adsorbed preferentially by loess over other cations in seawater despite having the lowest concentration. The adsorption studies of Li+ with loess were assessed using the batch equilibration method. In batch adsorption experiment, the various factors such as agitation time, initial concentration, and amount of dose were investigated. Adsorption isotherm and kinetic studies were performed to quantify the adsorption capacity and adsorption rate of Li+ by loess from seawater. The equilibrium data of adsorption were fitted by using the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. It was seen that the Langmuir isotherm is better in describing the adsorption process of Li+ by loess due to its higher correlation coefficient R-2 value. The maximum adsorption capacity of loess for Li+ obtained by Langmuir isotherm was 0.193 mg/g. The pseudo-first-order, the pseudo-second-order, and the intra-particle diffusion kinetic models were employed to analyze the time-dependent adsorption rate of Li+. It was found that the adsorption of Li+ closely follows the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, from which a very accurate estimation of the equilibrium adsorption capacity (q(e),(cal)) was achieved, as well as the higher R-2. Because of its low-cost and high selectivity towards Li+, loess could be probably an applicable adsorbent for the recovery of Li+ from seawater.