Atyaf Khalid Hameed, Mohd Hasbi Ab Rahim, Nugroho Dewayanto and Mohd Ridzuan Nordi
In series of batch experiments, the performance of NZVI/MSN as adsorbent for the removal of chloroform (CHCl3) from aqueous solution was determined. The prepared adsorbent as zero valent iron supported on mesoporous silica (NZVI/MSN) was characterized by the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunner –Emmett –Teller (BET) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The BET surface areas of the adsorbents were 126, 41 and 72 m2/g for MSN, NZVI, and NZVI/MSNs, respectively. Adsorption reached equilibrium within 60 min at optimum pH value of 8. The capacity of NZVI/MSN in adsorption of CHCl3 from aqueous solution was found to be 12.08 mg/g .The adsorption isotherm studies were conducted by series of batch adsorption at various initial concentrations of CHCl3. Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models were employed to fit the adsorption characteristic of the adsorbent. Maximum adsorption capacity of CHCl3 onto NZVI/MSN was found to be 38.314 mg/g, which conducted from the Langmuir slope. It was found that Freundlich isotherm characterized the adsorption process better than that of Langmuir for NZVI/MSN as indicated by higher correlation coefficient value. Hence, the adsorption of CHCl3 onto NZVI/MSN can consider as a multilayer adsorption rather than a monolayer adsorption.
