Alkaline Earth Element Adsorption onto PAA-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles

Qing Wang, Valentina Prigiobbe, Chun Huh and Steven L. Bryant
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Qing Wang: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA
Valentina Prigiobbe: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Ocean Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA
Chun Huh: Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Steven L. Bryant: Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: In this paper, we present a study on the adsorption of calcium (Ca 2+ ) onto polyacrylic acid-functionalized iron-oxide magnetic nanoparticles (PAA-MNPs) to gain an insight into the adsorption behavior of alkaline earth elements at conditions typical of produced water from hydraulic fracturing. An aqueous co-precipitation method was employed to fabricate iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles, whose surface was first coated with amine and then by PAA. To evaluate the Ca 2+ adsorption capacity by PAA-MNPs, the Ca 2+ adsorption isotherm was measured in batch as a function of pH and sodium chlorite (electrolyte) concentration. A surface complexation model accounting for the coulombic forces in the diffuse double layer was developed to describe the competitive adsorption of protons (H + ) and Ca 2+ onto the anionic carboxyl ligands of the PAA-MNPs. Measurements show that Ca 2+ adsorption is significant above pH 5 and decreases with the electrolyte concentration. Upon adsorption, the nanoparticle suspension destabilizes and creates large clusters, which favor an efficient magnetic separation of the PAA-MNPs, therefore, helping their recovery and recycle. The model agrees well with the experiments and predicts that the maximum adsorption capacity can be achieved within the pH range of the produced water, although that maximum declines with the electrolyte concentration.

Keywords: adsorption; calcium; functionalized superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles; polyacrylic acid; surface complexation modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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