A New Approach for Adsorption of Fe(III) Using Natural Bioorganic Ligands as Facilitating Agents on Selected Adsorbents

Adsorption of Fe(III) ions and Fe(III) complexes on selected adsorbents in aqueous solutions is reported. Fe(III) complexes with ribose, lactic acid, glycine and valine were prepared, and FTIR spectra validated their formation. The structural data of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis also confirm the structure of the iron-ligand complexes and their adsorption on selected ligands (celite, cellulose, bentonite, activated carbon, carbon nanoparticles). Fe(III) adsorption from Fe−ligand complexes (FeLCs) on adsorbents in an aqueous solution was higher than the adsorption of metal ions alone. Compared with non-carbon adsorbents, carbon adsorbents carbon nano particles (CNP) and activated carbon (AC) showed higher adsorption of FeLCs. The atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) studies showed that the Fe−valine complex demonstrated the maximum adsorption (1719.18 ppm) compared to other samples. energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) studies confirmed a 2.16-fold increase in Fe(III)−Val complex adsorption compared with the pure metal ions. The current strategy provides an efficient proto-type to remediate Fe(III) contaminated water and to fortify Fe(III) through diet.