SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ZINC IRON OXIDE NANOCOMPOSITE FOR REMOVAL OF CHROMIUM (VI) ION FROM TEXTILE WASTEWATER

<strong>Abstract</strong>: Chromium(VI) is highly toxic and cause of cancer diseases. Adsorption is one of the primary water treatment processes employed for the purification of water because of the ease of operation, suitability, design simplicity, high removal efficiency, and wide area of application. In the current work, the adsorbent (Fe2O3 and Zn doped Fe2O3 nanoparticle) were prepared from hydrated ferric chloride, hydrated ferrous sulphate and hydrated zinc accetate to remove chromium (VI) from the wastewater was investigated. Accordingly, bare Fe2O3 and ZnFe2O4 nanoparticle were prepared using simultaneous co-precipitation methods followed by treatment with ammonium hydroxide. FTIR, XRD and SEM-EDX measurments were conducted to confirm the the presence of different functional groups, the crystallinity, the morphoplogy and composition of as prepared nanoparticle (Fe2O3 and ZnFe2O4), respectively. The wastewater collected from Amhara Regional State,South Wollo Kombolcha city from Kombolcha Textaile Factory.The four operating parameters were pH, contact time, initial concentration and dosage on the percent removal were analyzed. The optimum adsorption of chromium (VI) ion occurs at pH =2, contact time of 80 min, concentration of 15 mg/L and 0.15 g adsorbent dose,the removal efficiency was 96.2 %, 96.6 %, 97 % and 96 % respectively. The kinetics of the adsorption process was evaluated using both Pseudo first and Pseudo-second order kinetics models of Chromium(VI)ion. The results showed that the adsorption process best fitted to Pseudo second order kinetics models of Chromium(VI) ion and hence, the maximum adsorption capacity of Chromium (VI) ion was found to be Qe = 0.222 mg/g and the removal efficiency of (%R) is 93.8 % respectively.