Removal Of Heavy Metals Using Activated Carbon Prepared from Coconut Shells as Adsorbent

Abstract

This study explored the use of activated carbon prepared from coconut shells for the removal of heavy metals in battery wastewater. Battery waste water is an industrial effluent that contains heavy metals such as lead, copper, iron and manganese. The characterisation of the water showed concentrations less than 5 mg/L for each of the metal ions. Generally, heavy metal ions are toxic even at low concentrations, hence this study. Two key parameters were studied and the trend showed that manganese was removed at a higher percentage than all the other metal ions and this can be attributed to its small atomic radius leading to it occupying more sites faster. Five gram was chosen as the optimum dosage for metal ion removal in battery water while 180 minutes was required for contact between the adsorbent and adsorbate. The pseudo first order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm both fitted well the kinetic data and the values of RL in the Langmuir indicated a favourable sorption. The mechanism of adsorption was found to be physical because most metal ions in the study achieved a removal of more than 50% without requiring any activation energy.