Laboratory study of adsorption kinetics of benzene and toluene contaminants on copper oxide nanoparticles

In recent years, various studies have been defined on the removal of contaminants from the soil. This shows the importance of this issue and human attention to a healthy ecosystem and human health. The petroleum derivatives are one of the most important pollutants in industrial effluents, especially oil effluents. In this study, the soil contaminated with oil derivatives was washed and then the resulting effluent was in contact with copper oxide nanoparticles. In this study, the concentrations of benzene and toluene in the effluent are 5.8, 6.3, 6.9, 7.2, 8.1, 8.7, 9.8, 10.3, 10.8, 11.2, 11.5 and 12.1 mg/l, respectively. In this work, the effect of variables such as initial concentration of pollutants, time and acidity on the absorption efficiency of these pollutants was investigated. Laboratory results indicate that the highest removal efficiencies of benzene and toluene occur at concentrations of 6.3 and 6.9, respectively. Also, other results show that the maximum adsorption of benzene and toluene occurs on the surface of copper oxide nanoparticles if the acidity of the effluent is 9.7 and 5.6, respectively. The presented results show that the equilibrium data of adsorption of benzene and toluene pollutants follow the quadratic kinetic model and intraparticle diffusion model.