Statistical physics modeling of equilibrium adsorption of cadmium ions onto activated carbon, chitosan and chitosan/activated carbon composite

The adsorption ability of activated carbon, chitosan, and chitosan/activated carbon composite for cadmium separation from aqueous solution was analyzed via statistical physical modeling. The equilibrium data were analyzed by Langmuir, Hill, double layer model, and the multi-layer model with saturation isotherm models. Results showed that the multi-layer model with saturation could well describe the data. The number of the adsorbate ions per site, the receiver site density, the number of formed layers, and the energies of adsorption relative to the different layers were estimated by numerical simulation. Results showed that the chitosan/activated carbon has higher receiver site density and the total amount of adsorbed ions than that other two adsorbents. Results showed that the cadmium adsorption onto activated carbon/chitosan composite is a monolayer and exothermic process. With increasing temperature, the amount of cadmium adsorption decreases due to the fact that the number of receiver adsorption sites decreases. Also, the statistical physics modeling indicated the geometry of cadmium ions adsorbed onto the adsorbent surface is parallel.