Author(s)

Kalidou Ba^*, Alpha Ousmane Toure, Samba Ndiaye, Moussa Diop, Falilou Mbacke Sambe

Laboratory of Water Energy Environment and Industrial Processes (LE3PI), Higher Polytechnic of Dakar (ESP), Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), Dakar, Senegal.

Copper is considered a heavy metal that can be toxic at certain concentrations and its presence in water is a potential threat to public health. These heavy metals also contribute to a remarkable degradation of the environment, hence the need for effective treatment methods to remove them. In this study, a mixture of titaniferous sand and calcium silicate was used as adsorbent material to eliminate copper in solution. The calcium silicate was synthesised from fluosilicic acid, which is a by-product of phosphoric acid manufacture. The titaniferous sand is a residue from a mining industry. Both adsorbents were characterised by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence to determine their compositions and physicochemical properties. The response surfaces, through the Box-Behnken model, were used to model and optimise various adsorption parameters, namely initial copper concentration (A: 60 - 200 mg/L), adsorbent dose (B: 0.1 - 0.6 g) and pH (C: 4 - 10). The copper removal efficiency (98.92%), after statistical analysis, was obtained under the following optimal conditions: an adsorbent dose of 0.55 g, an initial copper concentration of 197.25 mg/L and a pH of 9.85. The study of the effects of the operating parameters showed that they had a positive effect on the copper removal efficiency.

Adsorption, Calcium Silicate, Copper, Response Surface, Titaniferous Sand

Ba, K. , Toure, A. , Ndiaye, S. , Diop, M. and Sambe, F. (2023) Modelling and Optimisation of Copper Adsorption in Solution by the Response Surface Method. Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science, 13, 36-49. doi: 10.4236/aces.2023.131004.