Comparative Studies on the Potential of Lignocellulosics in Biosorption

Abstract

This research has been conducted for the production of activated carbon from walnut and coconut shells to adsorb the dyes from waste water. Both physical and chemical methods were used to activate them. The physical activation was done by burning the coconut and walnut shells in a Muffle furnace at a temperature of about 5000C. ZnCl2 was used as a chemical activator. The dyes taken for this research were methylene blue and methyl red. The adsorption studies were done to find out the effect of different parameters (contact time, pH, adsorbent dosages) on both the dyes. The results of the optimum contact time, pH and adsorbent dosage were obtained at 1 hour, pH 2 for methyl red and pH 9 for methylene blue, 0.5 gm respectively. Out of the two, activated walnut shells were found to be more efficient in removing both the dyes with a percentage removal of 99.80 (methylene blue) and 94.48 (methyl red).