Removal of Cd(II) from wastewater by sustainable absorber: Composite diatomite-based foams

Wastewater treatments by using low cost adsorbents is becoming a topic of primary interest. In the present work, the efficiency of a diatomite-based composite ceramic foam for cadmium adsorption was analyzed, in order to propose it as low-cost heavy metal absorber. Kinetic data showed a faster cadmium uptake capacity for the foamed sample, due to enhancement of the specific surface area obtained by foaming. Moreover, adsorption isotherms showed that the cadmium adsorption depends on the temperature for both materials and, in particular, this dependence is linear and higher for diatomite based composite foam.