IMPACT: International Journal of Research in Applied, Natural and Social Sciences (IMPACT: IJRANSS) ISSN 2321-8851 Vol. 1, Issue 4, Sep 2013, 15-22 © Impact Journals THE UTILITY OF MAGNETIC IRON OXIDE NANOPARTICLES STABILIZED BY CARRIER OILS IN REMOVAL OF HEAVY METALS FROM WASTE WATER K. L. PALANISAMY 1 , V. DEVABHARATHI 2 & N. MEENAKSHI SUNDARAM 3 1 Department of Physics, Sengunthar Engineering College, Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Department of Physics, KSR Institute for Engineering and Technology, Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Department of Biomedical Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India ABSTRACT The significance of nanoparticles for various applications is often assessed by their narrow size distribution, suitable magnetic saturation, better biocompatibility and low toxicity effects. In this work superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) were synthesized via a co-precipitation technique using ferrous salts with a Fe3+/Fe2+. Carrier oils such as olive oil, and flaxseed oil have been used as the coating material, owing to their benefits to the environment. This paper is concerned with the removing a heavy metal, copper, nickel and chromium, from its aqueous solution by carrier oils mediated iron oxide nanoparticles filtration. The prepared nanoparticles were studied in terms of size, morphology, magnetic behavior, structure, surface area including surface chemical structure and charges using different techniques such as XRD, FTIR and TEM. KEYWORDS: SPIONs, Olive Oil, Flaxseed Oil and Water Treatment INTRODUCTION The iron oxide nanoparticles have been utilized in various promising applications, such as catalysis, electronic devices, information storage, sensors, and drug-delivery technology, biomedicine, magnetic recording devices, and environmental remediation. Magnetic nanoparticles have large surface areas relative to their volume and can easily bind with chemicals and then they be removed using a magnet. This principal way nanotechnologies might help alleviate water problems is by removing water contaminants including bacteria, viruses, pesticides and hazardous heavy metals like arsenic, chromium, Nickel , etc., Heavy metals contaminated waste water from industrial activities such as electroplating, textile dyeing; tanneries etc reach the surface or ground water sources if it is inadequately treated[1-2]. In addition leaching from solid waste dumps (e.g. fly ash ponds, sludge from above industries) also contributes towards heavy metal accumulation. Polluted water is often treated by conventional or pressure-driven membrane processes to make it comply with drinking water standards. Conventional water treatment process consists of several stages. These include pre-treatment, coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, disinfection, aeration, and filtration. One of the disadvantages of the conventional water treatment method is that it cannot remove dissolved salts and some soluble inorganic and organic substances. This article analysis the some of low cost, non toxic and sustainable approach for the remediation of waste water released from electroplating industries. Chromium (Cr) is a transition heavy metal which has two stable forms trivalent Cr (III) and the hexavalent Cr (VI) species. Chromium (III) is an vital nutrient that helps the body use sugar, protein, and fat. (Mertz et al, Walter et al) and it is a very stable oxidation state of chromium. In Chromium (III) state, the chrome is labile and kinetically very slow to react or form complexes. It is not a strong oxidizer and the human’s natural body acidity is enough for the chrome to keep to this Cr (III) state. But the hexavalent Cr (VI) species are very harmful it can cause irritation to the nose, such as