Abstract
The adsorption of aluminium(III) and iron(III) ions from their single and binary systems, by RHAC was investigated in a batch system. The activated carbon prepared from rice hulls was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transformation infrared techniques. Batch adsorption experiments were performed under different operating conditions including pH (2 - 5), adsorbent dosage (0.5 - 2.0 g/l), initial ion concentration (5 - 100 mg/l), and contact time (30 - 240 min). The equilibrium time for maximum ions removal was found to be 180 min in single and binary ions systems. The kinetics of adsorption was evaluated using the pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and Elovich kinetic models. The Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin equilibrium models were applied to the adsorption experimental data. Real wastewater samples were collected from different locations to investigate the efficiency of rice hull activated carbon in treating real samples. The real wastewater samples were treated with the activated carbon prepared from rice hulls and a commercial activated carbon. The results showed that the activated carbon prepared in the present work was more efficient in the removal of aluminium and iron from real wastewater as compared to the commercial activated carbon which is more advantageous considering both economics and environmental parameters.
Highlights
The presence of inorganic pollutants in water is a problematic environmental issue
Rice hulls used as a starting material for the preparation of activated carbon were obtained from the Egyptian Starch & Glucose Manufacturing Company (ESGC)
Rice hulls were successfully used as a starting material for the preparation of a cost effective activated carbon
Summary
The presence of inorganic pollutants in water is a problematic environmental issue. The problem with metal ions pollution is that they are not biodegradable and are highly persistent in the environment [1]. The commonly used procedures for removing metal ions from aquatic ecosystems include chemical precipitation, reverse osmosis and solvent extraction [4]. These methods have disadvantages such as secondary pollution, high cost, high energy input, large quantities of chemical reagents or poor treatment efficiency at low metal concentration [5]. The aim of the present work is to prepare activated carbon from rice hulls (RHAC) and to characterize and investigate its adsorption efficiency towards the removal of iron and aluminium from their single and binary ion solutions in batch experiments considering all parameters affecting such processes as well as their kinetics and equilibrium
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