Mercury removal from industrial effluent using nano alumina sol

Mercury as a catalyst is widely used in many industries specially chemical and petrochemical industries. Because of its high toxicity, mercury is one of the most environmental concerns. Alumina nano particles have been synthesis in the manner of sol-gel using aluminum tributoxide. The Alumina sol due to crown structure and anionic charge can absorb cationic particles and forms a bridge between mercury elements. A synthetic effluent from mercury salt was prepared with specific concentration. Alumina nano sol was added to the prepared effluent with different concentration by mixing and sedimentation. Sampling in different time has been done for investigation of reaction time. Atomic absorption tests have been carried out to evaluate reaction efficiency and reaction time. Scanning electron microscopy was also used to visualize the particle size and morphology. The result shows a very effective efficiency as high as 99.97 percent for an initial Mercury concentration of 150 ppm.