Annual production of the sunflower seed in Serbia is between 650,000-720,000 tons. Most of this amount is used in vegetable oil industry. Abundant by-products from this processing are sunflower seed husks. Husks are usually incinerated by vegetable oil producers in order to obtain energy, used as an animal feed, or, unfortunately, landed up at some landfills. In order to promote new, added value for this abundant, renewable resource, the investigation presented in this paper was conducted. For that purpose, adsorption of Cu(II) ions from synthetic solution by unmodified sunflower seed husks was examined. ATR-FTIR was used to identify functional groups as potential active sites for Cu(II) sorption. Zeta potential values were determined to reveal the surface charge, while the cation exchange capacity (CEC) was determined to reveal the amount of exchangeable ions on its surface. ATR-FTIR analysis revealed the presence of specific functional groups (hydroxyl, carboxyl, carbonyl, and amine) responsible for removal of Cu(II) ions. The total CEC of sunflower husk is 47.74 meq/100g and Ca(II) and Mg(II) ions are in dominant exchangeable positions. The study of ion-exchange mechanism involvement was done and results confirmed that this mechanism is not the only mechanism which is involved in copper sorption. Also, the results show that the Cu(II) ions have preference for Mg(II) ions substitution. Sorption experiments were conducted in batch system. The effect of operating parameters (pH, contact time, initial concentration of Cu(II) ions and adsorbent dosage) on the adsorption capacity were investigated. The obtained experimental data were fitted by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The maximum adsorption capacity for Cu(II) ions calculated from Langmuir adsorption isotherm was 34.89 mg/g which is 15 to 35% higher than the capacity that other researchers reported previously for the same material and pollutant. These results are suggesting that sunflower seed husks have a potential to be applied as an effective adsorbent of copper ions from contaminated waters.

The study is focused on the determination of the most effective chemical leaching process for the simultaneous demineralization/deashing and desulfurization of subbituminous coal from the Bogovina Basin. Coal was treated for 30 min, at different temperatures, using variable concentrations of hydrochloric, nitric, acetic and citric acids; hydrogen peroxide, mixture of hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid (pH 2), as well as by the stepwise leaching process (nitric acid + mixture of hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid, pH 2). The changes in mineral composition, caused by the chemical leaching, are followed using X-ray diffraction, whereas alterations of coal organic matter are tracked by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and the content of fixed carbon. Inorganic acid leaching, regardless of the temperature and acid concentration, enabled the successful deashing of coal, whereas the percent of desulfurization was insufficient. The organic acid leaching was not satisfactory for both, deashing and desulfurization. Leaching by H2O2 and H2O2/HNO3 mixture (pH 2) resulted in moderate desulfurization, but the ash reduction was low. The most suitable method for the simultaneous effective ash (78 wt.%) and the sulfur (66 wt. %) removal from Bogovina coal is the two-step leaching, combining 10 vol. % HNO3 and mixture of 35 vol. % H2O2/10 vol. % HNO3 of pH 2 at 60?C.

The results of polymetallic sulphide Cu-Zn-Pb concentrate leaching with sulphuric acid in the presence of sodium nitrate as an oxidizing agent, at atmospheric pressure, are presented and discussed. Chemical composition and phase ratio of the starting concentrate and solid residuals after the leaching process are shown. Chemical reactions of leaching and their thermodynamic probabilities are predicted based on the calculated Gibbs energies and analysis of E-pH diagrams. The influence of temperature and time on the leaching degree of the concentrate's components is experimentally determined. It is shown that it is possible to obtain copper, zinc and iron in a solute form, while lead in the anglesite (PbSO4) form remains in the solid residual after the leaching process. The iron is being oxidized to Fe(III)-sulphate, which takes part in a sulphide leached minerals and turns into Fe(II)-sulphate.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effectiveness of three different extraction agents for the extraction of 25 elements from sediment samples collected from 4 artificial lakes and 12 rivers in Serbia (33 samples in total). The extraction efficiency of the agents was evaluated by its ability to extract the highest quantity of the elements. For that purpose, three acids (1M HCl, 2M HNO3 and 0.43M CH3COOH) have been used. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was used for quantitative determination of following elements: Al, As, B, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Ni, Na, Pb, Sb, Se, Sr, V, and Zn. The extraction with 1M HCl has shown the best results for the majority of investigated elements (especially Sr, Mn and Ca). Antimony (Sb) was detected only after extraction with 0.43M CH3COOOH, while selenium (Se) could not be detected when 2M HNO3 was applied as extraction agents. The present study could be very useful for choosing a suitable method for specific elements and also can be helpful in the evaluation of the contaminants in freshwater sediments in Serbia. This might contribute to environmental risk assessment of the present elements.

This study explores the electrochemical desulfurization of coal and the recovery of copper (Cu) using dimensionally stable anode (DSA) electrodes. Background: The research addresses the need for effective sulfur removal from coal to reduce emissions. Methods: Electrochemical desulfurization was conducted using DSA and graphite electrodes, evaluating parameters like activation energy, desulfurization rate, and energy consumption. Cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry were used to study the electrochemical properties. Results: The DSA electrode demonstrated superior performance with higher desulfurization rates, lower activation energy, and better response to temperature increases compared to the graphite electrode. Optimal desulfurization was achieved at 50 °C with the DSA electrode, balancing efficiency and energy consumption. Copper recovery from the solution post-desulfurization was effective, with an 86.34% recovery rate at −0.15 V vs. (Ag|AgCl). The energy consumption for the Cu recovery was calculated to be 10.56 J, and the total cost for recovering 1 ton of Cu was approximately 781.20 €. Conclusions: The study highlights the advantages of DSA electrodes for efficient sulfur removal and metal recovery, promoting cleaner energy production and environmental sustainability. Future research should focus on optimizing electrochemical conditions and scaling up the process for industrial applications.

During mechanical activation, energy of treated material is increase to a higher level. This can lead to chemical transformation of the activated material. This is the point where we can talk about mechanochemical transformations that have occurred as a result of mechanical activation. The subject of this paper is to monitor mass changes of material after different degrees of activation. One of the substances which is often used in the processes of mechanochemical synthesis is sodium carbonate. The mass changes occurring during the treatment were detected and measured by various methods, depending on the processing environment. The mass increase was attributed to chemisorption of moisture and carbon-dioxide present in air, as a consequence of the sodium carbonate activation. The methods we used were calcimetric chemical analysis. According to obtained results, it was found that activated sodium carbonate is mass-transformed into sodium bicarbonate, whereby these changes are functionally dependent on activation time and the processing atmosphere.