ADSORPTION OF RARE EARTH ELEMENT ION CE(III) BY MAGNETIC-NANOCELLULOSE (MGNS) ADSORBENT

• Main Author: Rahmawati, Luthfiana
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/65407
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Rare earth elements are widely used in high-tech and renewable industries. Cerium is one of the rare earth elements with the greatest abundance in the earth's crust. Cerium is widely used as the main component of mishmetals in metallurgy, polishing agents in the glass and ceramics industry, catalysts, LED lamps, and fluorescent powders. The widespread use of rare earth elements in various industries increase the risk of contamination these metals to environment. Apart from rare earth elements source being wasted, rare earth elements are also known to be toxic to the environment. Recent studies have shown that rare earth metals are toxic to bacteria, plants, animals, and can be accumulated in the food chain. Therefore, the recovery and separation of rare earth metals is important. In this study, the author used cellulose from cotton as a biosorbent material to adsorb Ce(III). Cellulose was synthesized into nanocellulose then modified into magnetite-nanocellulose (MGNS) to adsorb Ce(III) ions. Magnetite-nanocellulose adsorbents were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). In this study, the adsorption conditions of the MGNS adsorbent on Ce(III) ions were studied, including the optimum pH, contact time, and the study of kinetic isotherm and adsorption isotherms. The optimum condition for MGNS adsorption to Ce(III) was reached at pH 6 and contact time 3 hours. The results of the adsorption study showed that the Ce(III) adsorption process followed the pseudo second order kinetics model and the Langmuir isotherm model with the maximum adsorption capacity (qm) is 9.76 mg g-1.