Removal of Cr(VI) ions from the aqueous solution through nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) Magnetite Corn Cob Silica (MCCS): A bio-waste based water purification perspective

In this work corn cob silica supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (MCCS), a nano biocomposite was developed by a facile technique and its efficiency was investigated for removal of hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. Batch adsorption studies were carried out to examine the influence of contact time and initial metal concentration and pH after characterization under field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The selective adsorption ability of MCCS towards Cr(VI), only 0.1 g of adsorbent have shown effective adsorption of these ions with a maximum adsorption capacity (q<inf>m</inf>) of 11.1 mg g⁻¹. The studied results also reveal that the removal efficiency is highly dependent on solution pH and temperature and the sorption kinetics was best described by the pseudo-second order kinetic model. Since the magnetized nanocomposite can be easily isolated and removed using external magnets, there is future scope of using this novel adsorbent in various remediation techniques.