Adsorption Behaviors of Heavy Metal Ions by Steel Slag-An Industrial Solidwaste

Batch experiments were carried out to investigate heavy metal ions adsorption properties of steel slag, the results showed that steel slag could be used as an effective adsorbent to removal heavy metals such as Cr³⁺,Cu²⁺,Pb²⁺and Zn²⁺ from the aqueous solution. For the heavy metal Cr³⁺, the removal yield increased with increasing contact time and reached the equilibrium state within lh; The removal of Cr³⁺ increased from 44% to 99% at the rang of steel slag particle size from 2.5 mesh to 80 mesh, but go on decreasing the steel slag size, the removal of Cr³⁺did not almost change; The adsorption of Pb²⁺ was not affected by pH value from 1.3 to 7.5, the removal percentages were all above 99%; at the same experimental conditions, the adsorption capacity of steel slag for mixed system decreased in the order of Cr³⁺ > Zn²⁺ > Cu²⁺ > Pb²⁺, and comparing to the single metal ion system, the adsorption capacities all decreased, respectively.