Preparation and Characterization of Ceramic Hollow Microspheres for Heavy Metal Ion Removal in Wastewater

Ceramic hollow microspheres (CHMSs) were prepared to use as supports for the removal of heavy metal ions from industrial waste-water. A water extraction sol–gel technique was used to prepare porous CHMS by extracting water from an emulsion of LUDOX (silica colloid; SiO₂, Aldrich Co.) and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol. Experiments were conducted to control pore size, wall thickness, and separation yield by examining the ratio of precursors (LUDOX and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol), catalyst (NH₄OH), sintering temperature, surfactant (SPAN 80), extractant (n-butanol), stirring speed, and concentration of precursor (LUDOX). The results revealed that the optimum conditions were 20 ml of a 10 wt% solution of LUDOX, 10 ml of NH₄OH, a sintering temperature of 500°C, 0.4 ml of SPAN 80, 200 ml of n-butanol, and a stirring speed of 730 rpm/100 ml of 2-ethyl-1-hexanol. CHMSs were impregnated in Cyanex 272 and examined for their ability to remove heavy metal ions from a solution. Based on an experiment involving the removal of metal ions using CHMSs that were prepared under optimum conditions, Zn ion was removed at a level of 0.354 mmol/g at pH 4, which was about twice the adsorption capacity of CHMSs prepared by Wilcox (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc.346, 201 (1994)).