Study of cyanide removal from contaminated water using zinc peroxide nanomaterial

The present study highlights the potential application of zinc peroxide (ZnO₂) nanomaterial as an efficient material for the decontamination of cyanide from contaminated water. A process patent for ZnO₂ synthesis has been granted in United States of America (US Patent number 8,715,612; May 2014), South Africa, Bangladesh, and India. The ZnO₂ nanomaterial was capped with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to control the particle size. The PVP capped ZnO₂ nanomaterial (PVP-ZnO₂) before and after adsorption of cyanide was characterized by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and time of flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry. The remaining concentration of cyanide after adsorption by PVP-ZnO₂ was determined using ion chromatograph. The adsorption of cyanide over PVP-ZnO₂ was also studied as a function of pH, adsorbent dose, time and concentration of cyanide. The maximum removal of cyanide was observed in pH range 5.8-7.8 within 15min. The adsorption data was fitted to Langmuir and Fruendlich isotherm and it has been observed that data follows both the isotherms and also follows second order kinetics.