Iranian Journal of Irrigation & Drainage

Iranian Journal of Irrigation & Drainage

Feasibility of Removing Salinity Ions from Saline Wastewater Containing Heavy Metals Lead and Zinc

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mohamadreza Yazdani 1
Somayeh Soltani-Gerdefaramarzi 2
Mohsen Ghasemi 3
Fatemeh Abyar 4
1 Student of Irrigation and Drainage, Department of Water Sciences and Engineering, Collage of Agriculture and Natural Resource, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran.
2 Water Science and Engineering Department, Faculty of agriculture and natural resource
3 Planning Deputy of Yazd Regional Water Company
4 Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry, Chemical Engineering Department, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran
Abstract
The problem of water scarcity in Iran, especially in arid regions, has led to an increasing use of domestic and industrial wastewater and unconventional water resources. Given this necessity, an experiment was conducted in three sections – conventional adsorbent, nano-adsorbent, and modified adsorbent – in saline wastewater containing heavy metals. The experimental treatments included adsorbent treatment at four levels (1- activated carbon, 2- nano-activated carbon, 3- nanosilica, 4- vitamin C modified nanosilica), salinity treatment at three levels (1, 10, and 20 dS/m), and heavy metal concentrations of lead and zinc at four different concentrations (0, 50, 100, and 200 mg/L) in three replicates, using a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design in a batch system. The adsorption of salinity ions was investigated in the presence and absence of heavy metals lead and zinc. The results showed that for all four adsorbents, the total adsorption capacity significantly increased with increasing salinity levels, both in the absence and presence of heavy metals. Furthermore, the total adsorption capacity decreased with the presence and increasing concentration of heavy metals for all four adsorbents, indicating competitive adsorption between salinity ions and heavy metals. The nano-activated carbon adsorbent performed better in desalination than the activated carbon adsorbent, and generally, the performance of the nanosilica adsorbent in desalination was better than that of the modified nanosilica. Based on the results, the percentage of desalination increased with increasing salinity, with the highest rate observed at a salinity of 20 dS/m by the nano-activated carbon adsorbent (28.3%) and the lowest rate (9.4%) observed in the absence of heavy metals by the activated carbon adsorbent at a salinity of 1 dS/m. These findings can be effective in improving the application of adsorbents for the treatment of saline water and wastewater containing heavy metals.
Keywords
Desalination
Adsorption
Nanoadsorbent
Contaminated wastewater
Adsorbent remediation
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Iranian Journal of Irrigation & Drainage
Volume 19, Issue 3 - Serial Number 112
July and August 2025
Pages 395-408