Cadmium sorption properties of poly(vinyl alcohol)/hydroxyapatite cryogels: I. kinetic and isotherm studies

Abstract

A new adsorbent for removing heavy metal ions from wastewater, poly(vinyl alcohol)/hydroxyapatite(PVA/HAp) composite cryogel, has been investigated. The PVA/HAp cryogel was prepared through a clean process by using water and freeze-thawing. The PVA/HAp cryogel is provided with interconnected macropores varying from 0.1 um to several um and well dispersed and immobilized HAp in cryogel. Batch experiments of cadmium sorption were carried out to test the sorption ability of PVA/HAp cryogel. The isotherm and kinetics of cadmium sorption were studied by fitting the experimental results to isotherm and kinetics models. The Langmuir isotherm suitable for this system shows the maximum sorption capacity of 53.3 mg/g. For kinetics, the double-exponential model presents best fit compared with pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. The double-exponential model indicates a diffusion-controlled and a two-step mechanism.