Adsorption and electrosorption of ethyl xanthate and thiocyanate anions at high-area carbon-cloth electrodes studied by in situ UV spectroscopy: Development of procedures for wastewater purification

Adsorption and electrosorption behavior of ethyl xanthate (EtX-) and thiocyanate (SCN-) anions, individually and when they are together in a solution, were studied at high-area C-cloth electrodes by in situ UV spectroscopy in relation to development of methodologies for purification of industrial wastewaters. The employment of straight-forward, yet demonstrably useful spectrophotometric techniques of kinetics and scanning kinetics is described. Adsorption isotherms of EtX- and SCN- were also derived. However, EtX- was found to decompose to a small extent during electrosorption on C-cloth and/or Au or Pt surfaces, causing some interference with the spectrophotometric analysis of SCN- at 215 nm. After long prior contact of the C-cloth with water, the adsorption rates of EtX- and SCN- are somewhat increased.; Competitive adsorption studies show that SCN- ion does not become adsorbed on the C-cloth in the presence of EtX-, thus demonstrating a remarkable discriminatory effect.