CaCO3 as sorbent for lead removal from waste waters

To date few articles are reporting results on lead sorption at the calcite-water solution interface by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and this investigation aims to clarifying the mechanism of the interaction of Pb²⁺ model solutions over a wide concentration range, from 0.1 μM to 80 mM, with commercial calcite.

• Calcite is a promising and efficient material to remove lead from aqueous solutions.

• Lead removal mechanism involves heterogeneous nucleation and surface co-precipitation.

• Lead removal by using calcite is around 100% within a wide range Pb²⁺ concentration.

• XPS, XRPD, SEM, ICP-AES are synergetic for clarifying the sorption mechanism.

These findings suggest that heterogeneous nucleation and surface co-precipitation occur and calcite can be well considered a very promising sorbent for Pb²⁺ removal from wastewaters within a wide initial concentration range.

Publication: E. Fiorito, M. Fantauzzi, L. Brundu, D. Atzei, B. Elsener, A. Rossi, Calcium carbonate as sorbent for lead removal from wastewaters, Chemosphere 296 (2022) 133897, doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.133897