Abatement of chromium by adsorption on nanocrystalline zirconia using response surface methodology

Abstract

Water is essential component for life sustenance on this earth. Rapid urbanisation, towering population growth rate and increasing demand of water are leading towards the scarcity of water. Necessity of the day is to provide cost efficient, effective and eco-friendly method for remediation of pollutants from water. Adsorption is one of the easy and cost effective methods being used regularly for the removal of heavy metals from water. The materials of nano scale size have proven to be the best adsorbing materials as they have small size, high reactivity, large surface area, ease of separation and large number of active sites for interaction with different contaminants. Adsorption experiments were designed using statistical design i.e. Central composite design which comes under the landscape of response surface methodology. Response surface methodology aids in quantitative comparisons of factors affecting removal efficiency of chromium from aqueous solution. The results showed that on providing optimal conditions, optimum removal of chromium was obtained. © Research India Publications.