Removal of toxic metal-ion pollutants from water by using chemically modified carbon powders

The thermodn. of and the kinetic parameters controlling the sequestration of the toxic heavy metal CdII from aq. media using a material consisting of glassy C microspheres (10-20 µm diam.) chem. modified with L-cysteine Me ester are presented. In an effort to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of toxic metal removal, this modification strategy was expanded to attach L-cysteine Me chem. ester to less expensive graphite powders (2-20 µm in diam.), and the thermodn. and kinetic parameters of the sequestration of CdII, CuII, and AsIII toxic metals are presented. It was found that the use of chem. modified graphite powder greatly increased both the rate and the amt. of metals removed from aq. media. This work has important potential applications to filtration of drinking water and environmental remediation. [on SciFinder(R)]