Open AccessRemoval of toxic zinc from water/wastewater using eucalyptus seeds activated carbon: non‐linear regression analysis
Author(s) -
Senthil Kumar Ponnusamy,
Saravanan Anbalagan,
Anish Kumar Kodyingil,
Yashwanth Ramesh,
Visvesh Sridharan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
iet nanobiotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1751-875X
DOI - 10.1049/iet-nbt.2015.0087
Subject(s) - adsorption , freundlich equation , zinc , activated carbon , langmuir , wastewater , aqueous solution , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , langmuir adsorption model , powdered activated carbon treatment , exothermic reaction , chemical engineering , waste management , organic chemistry , engineering
In the present study, a novel activated carbon was prepared from low‐cost eucalyptus seeds, which was utilised for the effectively removal of toxic zinc from the water/wastewater. The prepared adsorbent was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopic characterisation studies. Adsorption process was experimentally performed for optimising the influencing factors such as adsorbent dosage, solution pH, contact time, initial zinc concentration, and temperature for the maximum removal of zinc from aqueous solution. Adsorption isotherm of zinc removal was ensued Freundlich model, and the kinetic model ensued pseudo‐second order model. Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity of the adsorbent for zinc removal was evaluated as 80.37 mg/g. The results of the thermodynamic studies suggested that the adsorption process was exothermic, thermodynamically feasible and impulsive process. Finally, a batch adsorber was planned to remove zinc from known volume and known concentration of wastewater using best obeyed model such as Freundlich. The experimental details showed the newly prepared material can be effectively utilised as a cheap material for the adsorption of toxic metal ions from the contaminated water.