RECOVERY OF RHENIUM AND MOLYBDENUM FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER USING THE KAOLIN-CHITOSAN COMPOSITE BIOSORBENT SORPTION KINETICS AND ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS
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Berdikulov Bakhtiyor, Gulnora Ikhtiyarova
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In this study, the ability of the previously synthesized and characterized AK-Xz (kaolin-chitosan, 5:1) composite biosorbent to take up rhenium (Re) and molybdenum (Mo) from an industrial wastewater sample containing these metals was investigated. The sorption experiment was carried out by keeping 1 g of sorbent in 100 mL of solution for contact times ranging from 10 to 300 minutes, while the process was monitored by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The results showed that the absorbance of the solution decreased with time and stabilized within the 150-300 minute range, indicating that equilibrium had been reached. The kinetic data fitted the pseudo-first-order model with high accuracy (R² = 0.9934), whereas the pseudo-second-order model showed a markedly lower fit (R² = 0.7256). XRF elemental analysis confirmed that, after sorption, the Mo content of the solid phase increased from 0.836% to 2.97% (3.55-fold) and the Re content from 0.0410% to 0.0830% (2.02-fold). These findings indicate that the AK-Xz composite is a promising sorbent for recovering strategic metals from industrial wastewater.
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Authors
Berdikulov Bakhtiyor, Gulnora Ikhtiyarova
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