The characteristics of arsenic adsorption onto Fe-XAD8-DEHPA resin were studied on the laboratory scale using aqueous solutions and natural underground waters. Amberlite XAD8 resin was impregnated with di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (DEHPA) via the dry method of impregnation. Fe(III) ions were loaded onto the impregnated resin by exploiting the high affinity of arsenic towards iron. The studies were conducted by both in contact and continuous modes. Kinetics data revealed that the removal of arsenic by Fe-XAD8-DEHPA resin is a pseudo-second-order reaction. The equilibrium data were modelled with Freundlich Langmuir and Dubinin Radushkevich (D-R) isotherms and it was found that the Freundlich model give the poorest correlation coefficient. The maximum adsorption capacity obtained from the Langmuir isotherm is 22.6 µg As(V)/g of Fe-XAD8-DEHPA resin. The mean free energy of adsorption was found in this study to be 7.2 kJ/mol and the ΔG° value negative (−9.2 kJ/mol). This indicates that the sorption process is exothermal, spontaneous and physical in nature. The studied Fe-XAD8-DEHPA resin showed excellent arsenic removal performance by sorption, both from synthetic solution and the natural water sample, and could be regenerated simply by using aqueous NaOH or HCl solutions.

This research determined the adsorption performance of Florisil^® impregnated with trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium chloride (Cyphos IL-101) in the process of Cs⁺ removal from aqueous solutions. The obtained Florisil^® impregnated with the studied ionic liquid was characterized through energy dispersive X-ray analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in order to verify that the impregnation with the ionic liquid had occurred. The adsorption process has been investigated as a function of pH, solid:liquid ratio, adsorbate concentration, contact time and temperature. The isotherm data was well described by a Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacities of the Florisil^® impregnated with the studied ionic liquid was found to be 3.086 mg Cs⁺/g of adsorbent. The results indicated that the adsorption fitted well with the pseudo-second order kinetic model.