After routine alkali treatment of
industrial wastewaters, a subsequent
purification step is required before discharging the resulting effluent
due to the remaining trace amount of chromium(VI) at milligram per
liter levels. In the present study, a simple one-step synthesis was
carried out to fabricate a new adsorbent of Ni
x
Co
y
ZIF-67 for adsorption and removal
of wastewaters containing chromium(VI) efficiently. To find optimum
adsorption conditions of chromium(VI), the sample pH effect, initial
concentration of chromium(VI), temperature, contact time, and adsorbent
amount were examined. At 298 K, an adsorption capacity of 30.3 mg/g
was calculated. Analyzing the mechanism of removal indicated that
the chromium(VI) uptake by Ni
x
Co
y
ZIF-67 fits with the Langmuir and Dubinin–Radushkevich
isotherms well and follows a pseudo-second-order kinetic approach.
Also, a positive ΔG and negative ΔH and ΔS indicated adsorption that
is endothermic and occurs spontaneously. Electrostatic attractions
of chromium(VI) anions by the positively charged surface of the adsorbent
and ion exchange with the hydroxyl groups of the adsorbent surface
can be ascribed as the mechanism of adsorption. Under the optimized
conditions, the detection limit was 0.003 mg/L, and the quantification
limit was 0.010 mg/L. The linear range of the calibration plot was
between 0.010 and 2.0 mg/L (R
2 > 0.9900).
The intraday and interday RSDs% at two concentration levels of 0.05
and 0.20 mg/L were less than 3.4%. Eventually, the applicability of
the presented method was evaluated for measuring trace amounts of
chromium(VI) in blood samples. Acceptable relative recoveries of 82–93%
were achieved. Overall, it can be concluded that Ni
x
Co
y
ZIF-67 can be introduced as
a promising sorbent for the determination of chromium(VI) into complex
biological fluids and its decontamination from industrial wastewaters.