Pb+2 Adsorption from Water by Carboxy Mesoporous Carbon in Acidic Condition

Lead (Pb) is one of the toxic heavy metals and an important contaminant in aquatic environments. Its mobilization in the environment has greatly increased as a result of major anthropogenic emissions and poor waste disposal. Pb exists in various forms depending on environmental conditions. At low pH, Pb dissociates and exists mainly as a mobile and toxic Pb2+ form. Humans acquire Pb through ingestion or inhalation of Pb-contaminated food, air and water. The maximum allowable limit of total Pb in drinking water considered safe by the World Health Organization is 50 ppb, whereas less than 15 ppb is adopted by the United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency. Various techniques have been developed to remove Pb2+ from aquatic environment [1, 2]. These include applications of chemical and biological materials, either by metabolically mediated or physico-chemical pathways of uptake. Manytypes of biological materials including cyanobacteria, algae, yeast, and aquatic plants have beenused for the removal of metals from wastewater. Adsorption treatment provides a simple and universal approach to effectively removing heavy metal pollutants from the aquatic environment [3-5]. Mesoporous carbon materials with ordered pore structure, high pore volume, high specific surface area, and tunable pore diameters can be prepared using the hard template method. Due to its open pore structure and mesoporous properties, mesoporous carbon provides marked advantages over typical activated carbon in the adsorption and diffusion process. In the present communication, we report the adsorption of Lead on carboxy ordered mesoporous Carbon.