Authors : Sobhy M. Yakout and Ashraf A. Mostafa
Abstract: Nitrite is formed naturally by the nitrogen cycle during the process of nitrogen fixation in vertebrates, nitrate is converted to nitrite and other metabolites (nitric oxide and N-nitroso compounds). Overall, the acute toxicity of nitrite has been shown to be ~10 fold higher than that of nitrate. In this study, KMnO4 oxidized Rice straw activated carbon has been used for nitrite removal from aqueous solution. Both unoxidized and oxidized carbon samples are characterized using N2-adsorption, elemental analysis, Boehm’s titration and surface fractal dimension. Results show that oxidation treatment enhanced surface area and pore volume. The modified carbon good nitrite adsorption compared to unoxidized one. The equilibrium was attained after shaking for about 10 h beyond which there is no further increase in the adsorption. The pseudo first and second order kinetic models were applied assuming that the external mass transfer can be neglected and the process is chemisorption controlled.
Sobhy M. Yakout and Ashraf A. Mostafa, 2014. Removal of Nitrite from Aqueous Solution by Active Carbon: Adsorption Kinetics Modeling. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 13: 558-563.