Study on kinetics and mechanism of Re(VII) ion adsorption and desorption using commercially available activated carbon and solutions containing Se(VI) as an impurity

This paper presents the potential use of carbon sorbents in recovering rhenium(VII) from highly diluted electrolytes. Tests were performed using synthetic solutions containing selenium(VI) as an impurity. Adsorption of Re(VII) is selective with respect to selenium(VI). Activated carbon is a suitable sorbent for rhenium recovery because unlike ion-exchange resins, it has high chemical resistance and osmotic-shock resistance. The results show that the sorption mechanism is complex. Two follow-up processes occurred—physical adsorption and the reduction of Re(VII) to Re(VI). The processes were strongly influenced by the temperature. The lower the temperature, the higher the process efficiency. The observed sorption capacity was as high as 7.6 mg/g at 298 K and decreased as the temperature increased. The adsorption was a mixed-control process. Increasing the temperature altered the rate-limiting process. The activation parameters were determined using rate constant (k) and Arrhenius equation. In the first step, the activation energy was approximately 0 kJ mol−1. In the second step, the activation energy for k2,obs and k3,obs was determined as 57.3 kJ mol−1. The pre-exponential factors were calculated; their value was 2.98 × 107 min−1. For k1,obs, the activation energy was nearly 0 kJ mol−1.