Application of Zinc-Silver Impregnated Activated Carbons in Removal of Lead(II) and Mercury(II) Compounds from Groundwater

Abstract

Abstract. Nowadays activated carbon is a material generating great interest, as it is characterized by a vast surface area due to a high number of pores in its structure. Therefore, the main purpose behind its use is the filtration of impurities from air and water that can be adsorbed with high efficiency. Activated carbon can be easily modified as well. The paper describes activated carbon modification with copper-, manganese-, silver- and zinc salts. The effects of the selected impregnates and their concentrations were examined. The products included 5 adsorbent samples: four universal adsorbents, impregnated with all the above-mentioned salts, and one specific adsorbent sample, designed to adsorb lead(II) and mercury(II) ions and impregnated with zinc- and silver salts only. The premise was to obtain pure drinking water. Properties, such as bulk density, methylene blue number or iodine number were determined for the modified activated carbons. To test the efficiency of an improved adsorbent, an experiment with water highly contaminated with Pb(II) and Hg(II) was carried out, and its results revealed that absorption efficiency for these heavy metals exceeded 99.9%. The adsorber samples were also observed under a digital microscope to compare their appearance.