Activated Carbon Preparation and Characterization from Flax Straw for Removal of Pb (II) Ions from Aqueous Solution and Industrial Wastewater
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Date
2021-09
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
There are different modern technologies to remove heavy metals from industrial effluent. However, applying these modern technologies is impossible in all situations. Hence, investigating alternative technologies like adsorption by AC for such kinds of problem is very important. Considering this, the aim of this study was to prepare AC from flax straw and investigate its potential for the removal of Pb (II) ions from aqueous solution and paint industry wastewater. AC was prepared by chemical activation method using H3PO4 as activating agent. The effects of activation time, activation temperature and activating agent concentration on yield and iodine number were studied by using RSM. The effects of initial Pb (II) ion concentration, adsorbent dose, contact time and pH on removal efficiency were studied by using synthetic wastewater prepared from lead nitrate on a batch mode. The collected wastewater sample was characterized before and after treatment according to APHA methods. AC was characterized and results showed that the flax straw AC had 8.04% of moisture, 6.04% of ash, 18.615% of volatile matter, 79.421% of fixed carbon, 459.807 mg/g of iodine number and surface area of 489.455 m2/g. Physico-chemical characteristics revealed that raw wastewater had a concentration of 3.95 mg/L Pb (II), 158.52 mg/L BOD5, 2482 mg/L COD, and 652.667 mg/L TSS. The highest removal efficiencies of Pb (II) metal ion which was achieved from aqueous solution and paint wastewater were found to be 95.16% and 78.73%, respectively. The experimental data are fitted with pseudo-second order model and adsorption of Pb (II) on flax straw AC fits the model of Langmuir very well. The results suggested that flax straw AC can be used as adsorbent to remove Pb (II) ion from paint industry wastewater.
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activated carbon, flax straw, optimum conditions, removal of Pb (II) ions