Core-shell FeO@zeolite NaA as an Adsorbent for Cu.

Here, using FeO@SiO as a precursor, a novel core-shell structure magnetic Cu adsorbent (FeO@zeolite NaA) was successfully prepared. Several methods, namely X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) were used to characterize the adsorbent. A batch experiment was conducted to study the Cu adsorption capacity of FeO@zeolite NaA at different pH values, contact time, initial Cu concentration and adsorbent does. It is found that the saturated adsorption capacity of FeO@zeolite NaA on Cu is 86.54 mg/g. The adsorption isotherm analysis shows that the adsorption process of FeO@zeolite NaA to Cu is more consistent with the Langmuir model, suggesting that it is a monolayer adsorption. Adsorption kinetics study found that the adsorption process of FeO@zeolite NaA to Cu follows the pseudo-second kinetics model, which means that the combination of FeO@zeolite NaA and Cu is the chemical chelating reaction. Thermodynamic analysis shows that the adsorption process of FeO@zeolite NaA to Cu is endothermic, with increasing entropy and spontaneous in nature. The above results show that FeO@zeolite NaA is a promising Cu adsorbent.