Microwave-Assisted Preparation and Physical Characterisation of Iron Oxyhydroxides Adsorbents for Arsenic Removal from Aqueous Solutions

A novel method for preparation of iron oxyhydroxide materials, involving aqueous precipitation followed by microwave assisted aging is investigated. The produced materials are characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX and TEM spectroscopy and BET analysis. The materials show physical characteristics dependent on preparation procedure. The adsorptive properties of the materials for arsenic are studied by batch adsorption techniques. It is found that the rate of arsenic upload depends strongly on the degree of crystallinity of the materials. The adsorption capacity is approximately 55 mg/g. The physical characterization of the arsenic loaded adsorbents show that the adsorption process modifies the morphology of the materials. Over 4% of arsenic atoms are incorporated into the particle matrix