Modeling, analysis and optimization of adsorption parameters of Au(III) using low-cost agricultural residuals buckwheat hulls

The agricultural residuals buckwheat hulls in the region of Jiaodong, China (BHJC) were employed to adsorb Au(III) ions both in the spiked samples and the gold-plating wastewater samples, and the relevant adsorption kinetics and isotherms were investigated. The investigation on the adsorption selectivity showed that BHJC displayed strong affinity for gold in the aqueous solutions. Furthermore, the process optimization was performed using response surface methodology (RSM), the quantitative relationship between the gold uptake and the different levels of experimental factors was used to work out optimized levels of these parameters. (C) 2013 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.