Textural properties of Magnetic Xerogel monoliths and its Prediction of the Effect of pH on Arsenic (V) adsorption

Abstract

Magnetic xerogels (MCs) were prepared by the cross-linking polymerization of resorcinol and formaldehyde (RF) using the alkaline catalyst and magnetite (Fe3O4). The indirect sonication was applied to distribute magnetite particles in RF aqueous solution to obtain the magnetic adsorbent that could be used as an easier recovery of adsorbent for water treatment. As a result of the characterization by X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was confirmed the presence of magnetite into the gel at 1.19% with low molar ratio of magnetite and resorcinol ratio at 0.01. The surface morphology and textural properties of RF gel characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope affect directly with the variation of molar ratio of resorcinol and catalyst (R/C), which were 50, 100 and 200. The behavior of arsenic (As(V)) adsorption by using MCs was studied in groundwater into the ranges of pH from 2.0 to 7.0. The maximum As(V) uptake was on MC prepared with low R/C molar ratio at 50 while R/C at 100 gave the best performance within the application range of pH. Furthermore, the prediction technique based on an adaptive fuzzy rules emulated network is utilized for evaluation the arsenic removal performance.