Application of Factorial Design in Adsorption Studies of Silver Ions with Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

The adsorption-related applications of CNTs to solve environmental pollution problems have received considerable attention in recent years. Carbon nanotubes are strong materials with the capacity to form covalent bonds. These features can be improved with various modifications. The use of CNTs in the adsorption of heavy metals has become widespread. MWCNT-Metal pairs can be important for many different applications. The aim of this study is to investigate the Ag(I) ions adsorption capacity of MWCNTs from aqueous solutions using the experimental design method. A full factorial design was employed to optimize the adsorption of Ag(I) ions onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). The effects of process parameters such as the initial Ag(I) concentrations (10 and 100 mg/L), pH (2 and 8) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes dosage (0.1 and 1.0 g/L) on Ag(I) adsorption were investigated on the adsorption process. Under acidic conditions, the removal efficiency of silver ions was found to be high by using MWCNTs. According to the results of factorial design calculations, the maximum adsorption capacity was found as 0.998 mg/g.

Keywords

• Multi-walled carbon nanotubes
• Full Factorial Design
• Ag (I) adsorption

References

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