Removal of nitrite and nitrite from wastewater

A novel type of magnetic nanosorbent, silica coated magnetite nanoparticles that modified with neocuproine (n-SCMNPs) was investigated for the adsorption and removal of nitrate and nitrite ion from wastewater samples. Wastewater containing nitrate and nitrite are a threat to good water quality. Therefore, these anions must be neutralized or removed from the wastewater prior to their release into the environment. Modified silica magnetite nanoparticles showed high efficiency in removing nitrite, nitrate and thiocyanate from wastewater samples [1, 2]. The adsorption capacity was evaluated using both the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models [3]. The Langmuir adsorption capacity (qmax) was found to be 78.43 mg/g and 86.23 of the adsorbent for nitrate and nitrite, respectively. Adsorption studies were performed by adding 0.03 g (n-SCMNPs) to the 50 mL solution of different concentrations of nitrate, nitrite and thiocyanate in a 250 ml beaker. The pH of the mixture was adjusted to 6.5±1 and the solution was stirred for 15 min. Then nitrate and nitrite loaded magnetite nanoparticles were separated with magnetic decantation. The initial and the final concentration of the analytes were determined by a single-beam UV-visible spectrophotometer. The developed methods based on n-SCMNPs provided some advantages of simple, fast, effective, repeatability and inexpensive with excellent adsorption capacities.