Removal of Chloroform from Aqueous Solution by the Adsorption onto Zero Valent Iron Supported on Zeolite as an Efficient Adsorbent

Chloroform is one of the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Chloroform is the most commonly exist compound of the tri-halo methane (THM); THMs are Halogen-substituted single-carbon compounds with the general formula CHX3. The adsorption of chloroform (CHCl3) from aqueous solution was investigated in series of batch experiment. Two type of adsorbents of zero valent iron were prepared as NZVI and NZVI/ZSM via the reduction method by using sodium boro- hydride as reducing agent. The prepared adsorbent were 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 254.33, 41, and 116.52 m2/g for ZSM, NZVI, and NZVI/ZSM, respectively. The adsorption isotherm studies were conducted at various initial concentrations of CHCl3 (10-40) mg/L. Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models were employed to fit the adsorption characteristic of the adsorbent. The removal efficiency of CHCl3 via the NZVI/ZSM from aqueous solution was found to be 19.92 mg/g, which conducted from the Langmuir slope. In addition the adsorption reached equilibrium within 90 min at optimum pH value of 9. It was found that Freundlich isotherm characterized the adsorption process better than that of Langmuir for NZVI/ZSM as indicated by higher correlation coefficient value. Hence, the adsorption of CHCl3 onto NZVI/ZSM can consider as a multilayer adsorption rather than a monolayer adsorption and the prepared adsorbents were found to be effect in the removal of CHCl3 from aqueous solution.