Modified sunflower seed husks for metal ions removal from wastewater

Abstract

Metal ion contaminated wastewater from small factory are interested. Finding of new and cheap adsorbent for wastewater treatment can increase the quality of the environment in the effected localities and thus prevent adverse effect on environment and human being. Adsorption techniques belong to a cost effective methods that are able to effectively remove metal ion from solution. For the overall understanding of adsorptive removal, factors affecting removal capacity is necessary examined. This study aimed to evaluate the removal efficiency of heavy metal ions in aqueous solution by modified sunflower seed husk (MSSH) for industrial wastewater treatment. Removal of lead (Pb(II)), nickel (Ni(II)), zinc (Zn(II)), and cadmium (Cd(II)) from aqueous solution using activated carbon prepared from sunflower seed husks (SSH), an agricultural waste was studied in batch experiment. Sunflower seed husks were modified by chemical activation with potassium carbonate (K2CO3) and zinc chloride (ZnCl2) solution followed by carbonization. The concentration of both chemicals was varied between 0.4 and 1.2 M, and the temperature was ranged from 400 °C to 700 °C. The initial concentration of each metal ion used in this experiment was 200 mg/g. The experimental data showed that the 0.8 M K2CO3 and ZnCl2 gave the optimum metal ions removal. The maximum removal of Pb(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) ions occurred using 400°C-K2CO3 modified husks with 99.61, 98.07, 98.75, and 92.99 percent, respectively. Furthermore in ZnCl2 activation, 400°C-ZnCl2 modified husks showed the maximum removal of Pb(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) ions with the values of 75.68, 51.79, 28.07, and 50.33 percent, respectively. The adsorption process conformed to Langmuir adsorption isotherm with the maximum adsorption (qm) of Pb(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) of 19.92, 18.56, 19.76, and 19.62 mg/g, respectively and KL of 0.1640, 0.1585, 0.1005 and 0.1918 L/mg, respectively. The results indicated that the 400°C-K2CO3 MSSH could be employed as a promising biosorption for industrial wastewater treatment. © Copyright 2017, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.