Utilization of Iraqi Rice Husk in the Removal of Heavy Metals from Wastewater

Abstract

This study deals with the potential of Iraqi Rice Husk (IRH) for the removal of nine heavy metal pollutants which are $Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb$ and $Zn$ ions from industrial wastewater using different design parameters by the adsorption process. Samples were taken of the IRH remaining after being used for the removal of the nine metal ions above from aqueous solutions using different methods. One of these methods was the preparation of a promoted type Y-zeolite catalyst which was compared with normally type Y-zeolite catalyst prepared from IRH alone and tested in the process of n-heptane isomerization under different temperatures. Another method involved the study of IRH as a rodenticide directly without any pre treatment. The results show that the promoted type Y-zeolite catalyst by $Cd^{+2}, Cr^{+6}, Cu^{+2}, Fe^{+3}, Ni^{+2}$ and $Zn{+2}$ ions gives a higher conversion and better selectivity of n-heptane isomerization than the normal type Y-zeolite catalyst and the IRH which had previously adsorbed $Al^{+3}, As^{+5}, Zn^{+2}$ and $Pb^{+2}$ from an aqueous solution and also showed good behavior as a rodenticide.