Comparative Study of Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from Water Using Metal Oxide Nanoparticles

Hexavalent chromium is one of the important heavy metals found in water and wastewater. The hexavalent form of chromium is considered to be a human carcinogen because of its mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. This work has focused on the comparison of copper oxide nanoparticles and aluminium oxide nanoparticles for the removal of chromium(VI) from water. The cooper oxide nanoparticles (CuNP) and aluminium oxide nanoparticles (AlNP) were synthesised by sol gel method. Both the adsorbents were evaluated for the adsorption capacity using Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption model. The CuNP and AlNP were characterized for X-ray diffraction and SEM. The study indicated that the AlNP showed better removal as compared to CuNP and can be further explored as potential adsorbent for hexavalent chromium removal.