Efficacy of Newly Developed Activated Carbon from Bark of Butea monosperma For Removal of Hexavalent Chromium

Abstract

Heavy metals present in the aquatic systems have become a serious problem. Due to this reason, it has been a great concentration on the development of new technologies for the removal of heavy metal ions from contaminated water. The adsorption process is one ofthe effective technology for the removal of toxic heavy metal ions. Hexavalent chromium is one of the major metal ion pollutants in the environment and is present in wastewater from most of the various industrial sections. Several conventional physical and chemical treatment technologies are reported in the literature for the removal of hexavalent chromium. But, these processes are expensive and energy-intensive and lead to the generation of harmful and carcinogenic by-products. In the recent study, the adsorption ability of activated carbon derived from the bark of Butea monosperma for removal of Cr(VI) from polluted water has been studied with respect to different parameters like the effect of pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, and initial metal ion concentration. The hexavalent chromium uptake was dependent on equilibrium pH=6.5, being the optimum pH value. Cr(VI) elimination from aqueous solution increases with an increase in contact time, and equilibrium was attained at 150 min. Further, on increasing the adsorbent dose, there was an increase in Cr(VI) removal. The maximum adsorption of Cr(VI) (96%) was examined at 5.0 g/l of adsorbent dose. The upsurge in the initial concentration of Cr(VI) decreases the percent removal of Cr(VI). This examination proved that the newly synthesized activated carbon from the bark of Butea monosperma could be used as a cost-effective and less energy-intensive adsorbent to remove hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution and can be successfully applied for the treatment of wastewater.