Viorica Dulman

Sorption of some textile dyes by beech wood sawdust.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the experimental conditions for removal of several textile dyes from aqueous solutions by sorption on beech wood sawdust, an industrial waste lignocellulosic product. From the six dyes tested, the sorbent shows preference for three dyes: Direct Brown, Direct Brown 2 and Basic Blue 86. Sorption of dyes on the beech wood sawdust is dependent on the nature of dye, pH, dyes concentration, contact time, and amount of sorbent. By comparative kinetic studies, the rate of sorption was found to conform with good correlation to pseudo-second-order kinetics. The parameters that characterize the sorption were determined on the basis of Langmuir isotherms. The preference of beech sawdust for dyes increases as follows: Basic Blue 86<Direct Brown 2<Direct Brown. The maximum capacity of sorption of the commercial dye (of approximately 60% purity) was found to be 526.3 mg g(-1) for Direct Brown.

Silver sorption on acrylic copolymers functionalized with amines. Equilibrium and kinetic studies

The sorption capacity of three weak base ion exchangers based on acrylic copolymers functionalized with ethylenediamine, triethylenetetramine and N, N- dimethylamino propylamine for Ag(I) ions was evaluated. Adsorption experiments were carried out by batch method. The effect of pH, crosslinking degree of copolymers, amount of sorbent, initial ion concentration, contact time and temperature was studied. The parameters which characterize the retention process were estimated using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models, the best fitting being for the first model. Kinetic data were fitted to pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and intraparticle diffusion models. Experimental data were in good agreement with the pseudo second order.

Decolorization of ammonium lignosulfonate with H2O2/Cu(II) heterogeneous catalyst

The potential of ammonium lignosulfonate (ALS) decolorization and degradation in aqueous solution was studied in a heterogeneous system using hydrogen peroxide and a Cu (II)-chelating ion exchanger. This was based on acrylic copolymers functionalized with N,N dimethylamino propylamine (DMAPA) as a catalyst. In order to optimize the efficiency of the system, the influence of such process parameters like H2O2 concentration, pH, contact time, temperature, ALS concentration and catalyst amount were evaluated. The apparent rate constant of decolorization calculated from the absorbance data indicates that the process profiles follow pseudo-first order kinetics. Lignosulfonate degradation was furthermore studied by FTIR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and determination in phenolic compounds. The catalyst stability and reusability have also been investigated. Our experimental results clearly indicate that, under optimum conditions, the ammonium lignosulfonate solutions exhibit a total bleaching associated with degradation and significant mineralization to CO2.