Synthesis and characterization of nanostructure hydrous iron–titanium binary mixed oxide for arsenic sorption

Synthesis of nanostructure hydrous iron–titanium binary mixed oxide (NHITBMO) had been reported by a simple method, and characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis, transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), surface area, and zero surface charge pH (pHzpc). The synthetic oxide was hydrated and microcrystalline with 77.8 m2 g−1 BET surface area. The particle size (nm) calculated using XRD peak table and TEM image was ~10–13 and 6–8, respectively. The pHzpc value was 6.0 (±0.05) for the oxide. The NHITBMO showed pH dependent good sorption affinity for arsenic from the aqueous solution and, the Langmuir monolayer capacity (mg g−1) was 80.0 and 14.6, respectively, for the As(III) and As(V). The pseudo-second order equation described the room temperature arsenic sorption kinetic data well. The minimum dose required was 1.6 g NHITBMO per L of water (Astotal = 0.24 mg L−1) to reduce the arsenic level below 0.01 mg L−1 in batch treatment process.