Study on the adsorption performance of zeolite imidazole frameworks materials for Co(II) and Mn(II) in solution

The radionuclides 60Co and 54Mn are the main activation products produced in the operation of nuclear power facilities. Wastewater with these radionuclides must be treated to meet standards before being discharged. A variety of zeolite imidazole frameworks (ZIFs) materials were synthesized at room temperature, and the adsorption effect of ZIF-67 was found to be the best through adsorption experiments on Co(II) and Mn(II). The thermal stability test and structural characterization of ZIF-67 were carried out. At the same time, the influence of the initial pH value, adsorption time, and initial concentration of the solution on the adsorption of Co(II) and Mn(II) by ZIF-67 was investigated. The results show that: ZIF-67 has a microporous structure with a BET surface area of 1,035.72 m2/g. In addition, ZIF-67 has good thermal stability, under the condition of pH = 6, a temperature of 303 K and the initial concentration of 500 mg/L. The saturated adsorption capacity for Co(II) and Mn(II) reached 230.25 mg/g and 338.75 mg/g, respectively. ZIF-67 exhibits good selective adsorption performance for Co(II) and Mn (II) in high concentration interfering ion solutions and multi-ion solutions. The adsorption process of ZIF-67 was analyzed by kinetics, thermodynamics, isotherms, and adsorption diffusion models. The analysis of thermodynamic parameters shows that the adsorption process of ZIF-67 to Co(II) and Mn(II) is spontaneous and endothermic. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model, Langmuir isotherm model, and Boyd model are more in line with the adsorption process of Co(II) and Mn(II) by ZIF-67. It shows that the active sites on the surface of ZIF-67 are evenly distributed, and the adsorption process is single-molecule chemical layer adsorption. In addition, the liquid film diffusion dominates the adsorption rate during the adsorption process of Co(II) and Mn(II) by ZIF-67.