Removal of zinc and lead ions from aqueous solution using activated carbon

Abstract

Excessive release of heavy metals into the environment due to industrialization and urbanization will cause danger to mankind's health, ecosystem, and agriculture. In this research, adsorption method is applied to remove heavy metals from aqueous solution. Adsorption is one of the safest, easiest, and most cost-effective methods and it is widely used in effluent treatment process. Activated carbon has been widely used as an adsorbent, but its use is limited by its high cost. Hence, there are necessary to make the research towards the production of low cost and more effective alternatives for activated carbon. This research focuses on the removal of some selected heavy metals from aqueous solution using activated carbon produced from agricultural waste. Agricultural waste materials being economic and eco-friendly due to their unique chemical composition, availability in abundance, renewable, low in cost and more efficient are seem to be practical alternative for heavy metal removal. The removal efficiency of the rice husk based activated carbon in treating heavy metal is studied by analyzing the result of initial and final concentration for each parameter using Atomic Adsorption Spectrometry (AAS). Equilibrium Isotherm and batch studies have been done by varying the parameters like contact time, initial metal concentration, and adsorbent dosage. Langmuir isotherm model and Freundlich Isotherm model are being studied to show the maximum adsorption capacity towards heavy metals.