Removal of Manganese Ions from Natural and Wastewater

The man-induced impact caused by agriculture and industry depletes the biosphere and its resources. Sorption is an effective means of removing heavy metals from water. This research featured manganese adsorption patterns in surface, underground, and wastewater sources. The study involved conventional activated carbon SKD-515, a coconut carbon sorbent, and a mineral sorbent of MS brand. The surface structure was studied using the methods of X-ray structural analysis, electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry, and scanning electron microscopy. Other experiments tested the results of manganese adsorption under different equilibrium, kinetic, and dynamic conditions. The tests revealed an insignificant change in the structural and sorption parameters. The samples of coconut carbon and SKD-515 were microporous while the MS sample proved to be mesoporous. The static test made it possible to range the sorbents by their absorption capacity as follows: MS > coconut carbon > SKD-515. According to the kinetic test, the limiting stage of the adsorption process started at the external diffusion mass transfer (20–45 min). The modeling stage involved a sorption column with a fixed material bed and different column diameters, loading layer heights, flow rates, and initial concentrations of manganese ions. Under dynamic conditions, the highest purification degree (87%) belonged to the MS samples followed by the coconut carbon samples (45%) and the conventional SKD-515 material (37%). The MS mineral sorbent proved to be the most effective manganese sorbent under static, kinetic, and dynamic conditions, demonstrating good prospects as a cheap industrial wastewater and natural water filter.