Adsorption of Heavy Metals from Industrial Wastewater using Palm Date Pits as Low Cost Adsorbent
Arshad I. Esmael1, Minerva E. Matta2, Hisham A. Halim3, Farouk M. Abdel Azziz4
1Arshaed I. Esmael, Department, Cairo University, Faculty of Engineering, Giza, Egypt.
2Minerva E. Matta, Associate professor, Department, Cairo University, Faculty of Engineering, Giza, Egypt.
3Hisham A. Halim, Professor, Department, Cairo University, Faculty of Engineering, Giza, Egypt.
4Farouk. M. Abdel Azziz, G.M of NOPWASD, Cairo, Egyp.
Manuscript received on May 23, 2014. | Revised Manuscript received on June 11, 2014. | Manuscript published on June 30, 2014. | PP: 71-76 | Volume-3, Issue-5, June 2014. | Retrieval Number: E3128063514/2013©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater is of great concern as heavy metals are non-biodegradable, toxic elements that cause serious health problems if disposed of in the surrounding environment. In this study, the removal of three heavy metals: copper, hexavalent chromium, and iron through adsorption using palm date pits was studied. Palm date pits are considered a low cost source of activated carbon. Heavy metals adsorption was studied for individual elements, and for industrial wastewater samples collected from a tannery and an electroplating factory. The kinetic studies showed that Cu, Cr+6 , and Fe were adsorbed very rapidly within the first 30minutes, while equilibrium was attained within 90min, the optimum pH range for their adsorption was found to be (4.5-6.5), depth of adsorbent layer (70-90)cm, and particle size(0.5-0.75)mm. The adsorption capacity and removal efficiency for individual elements reached 89.17% for Cu, 71.30% for Cr+6, and 85.17% for Fe respectively. As for the removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater collected from the tannery, removal efficiency reached 85.17% for Cu, 65.42% for Cr+6, and 87.03% for Fe and for the electroplating factory effluent: 82.857% for Cu, 61.65% for Cr+6, and 89% for Fe. The equilibrium sorption data for synthetic wastewater at temperature 27+ 2°C was described by both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Experimental data were better fitted to the Freundlich equation rather than to the Langmuir equation.
Keywords: Adsorption heavy metals, Industrial wastewater, low cost adsorbents, Palm date pits.