Utilization of active carbon produced from local materials as adsorbent for heavy metal ions from industrial wastewater

Abstract

This study investigates the following prospects of (i) the preparation facilities of activated carbon from Common Reed (CR) using chemical activation with H3PO4 (PA) under flowing of two different gases (Nitrogen &Air), and (ii) the adsorption performance of the produced activated carbon (AC) towards the removal of Cu(II), Cd(II)and methylene blue dye from their aqueous solutions. Activated carbons (ACs) obtained were characterized using FT-IR and N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms. The adsorption data were studied for adsorption isotherms of Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin-Radushkevich and Tempkin models. Also Kinetic studies were done according to pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and Intraparticle diffusion models. Adsorption of Cu(II) and Cd(II) were best fitted with Dubinin-Radushkevich and Tempkin adsorption isotherms, while adsorption of methylene blue was fitted with Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models and pseudo-second order kinetic model. The best conditions of preparation were (30% PA – air) for Cu(II) adsorption, (50% - N2)for Cd(II)adsorption, and (50% - air) for dye adsorption. The total surface areas (SBET) were between 1067.73 and 1192.85 m2/g. The adsorption capacity of Cu(II) and Cd(II) were 47.00 mg/g and 83.43 mg/g respectively, while the maximum adsorption capacity of dye was 314.4 mg/g. The results indicated that CR could be employed as a low-cost alternative for the preparation of activated carbon and the removal of heavy metals ions and organic pollutants from effluents.

Keywords: Common Reed, Activated carbon, Chemical activation, Adsorption, Heavy metals ions, Dye pollutant, Methylene blue, Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin-Radushkevich, Temkin, Pseudo-first order, Pseudo-second order, Intraparticle diffusion model.