Highly selective removal of Zn(II) ion from hot-dip galvanizing pickling waste with amino-functionalized Fe3O4@SiO2 magnetic nano-adsorbent

Amino-functionalized Fe3O4@SiO2 magnetic nano-adsorbent was used as a novel sorbent to highly selective removal of Zn(II) ion from hot-dip galvanizing pickling waste in the presence of Fe(II). These hot-dip galvanizing pickling waste mainly contain ZnCl2 and FeCl2 in aqueous HCl media. The properties of this magnetic adsorbent were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) and BET surface area measurements. Various factors influencing the adsorption of Zn(II) ion such as initial concentration of metal ions, the amount of adsorbent, pH value of the solutions, the concentration of coexisting iron ion were investigated by batch experiments. The results indicated that the adsorption equilibrium data obeyed the Freundlich model with maximum adsorption capacities for Zn(II) to 169.5 mg/g. The maximum adsorption occurred at pH 5 +/- 0.1 and Fe(II) interferences had no obvious influence. This work provides a potential and unique technique for zinc ion removal from hot-dip galvanizing pickling waste. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.