Preconcentration of trace heavy metals Cr 3+ and Cu 2+ using natural clay

Abstract

This review gives some outlines of fundamental principles of adsorption and adsorption process. Clay has a potential to adsorb heavy metal ions. A number of theoretical models and equations are available for the purpose and the best fit of the experimental data to any of these models is interpreted as giving the appropriate kinetics for the adsorption process. In this research we tried to use the natural clay as an adsorbent to be applied for preconcentration of some heavy metals namely chromium and copper. Most heavy metals are found in trace concentration in environment and very difficult to be detected by atomic absorption or other simple techniques ,so they need to be concentrated . The results show chromium can be preconcentrated using this clay with high efficiency up to 96.1% while copper is 49% only