The effect of temperature on the adsorption of heavy metals, Hg2+, Cd2+, Fe2+ and Ni2+ using unactivated boiler fly ash (an agricultural waste) was investigated. The results showed that Hg2+ and Cd2+ ions were mostly affected by increase in temperature because their sorption rate decreased at high temperature. At the temperature of 273 K and 383 K, the amount of Hg2+ adsorbed (mg/g) by the unactivated boiler fly ash was 49.890 mg/g and 49.653 mg/g respectively. For Cd2+ ion, the amount adsorbed were 49.671 mg/g and 48.962 mg/g at temperatures of 273 K and 383 K respectively. The sorption of Fe2+ and Ni2+ fluctuated as temperature was increased. However; more of Fe2+ was removed from its aqueous solution followed by Ni2+ ion. The enthalpy of adsorption of Hg2+ and Fe2+ were found to be endothermic while that of Cd2+ and Ni2+ ions were exothermic. More so, ΔSθ for all the metal ions were greater than zero (> 0) and ∆Go were all negative which showed that the adsorption process was spontaneous, irreversible and feasible. Furthermore, lower temperatures favoured the removal of Hg2+ and Ni2+ ions from their solutions. Therefore, effect of temperature is a very important parameter to be investigated for proper decontamination of metal ions from wastewater.Key words: Adsorption, Boiler fly ash, Heavy metals, Temperature, Unactivated.
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International journal of Thermodynamics and Chemical Kinetics
