Low-Cost Material Derived from Coconut Husk for the Removal of Chromium(VI) from Water Environment

Abstract

A low-cost bio-material was derived from biomass agricultural by-product (coconut husk) and applying it in water treatment, makes both economic and environmental sense. Hexavalent chromium has been confirmed to be the most hazardous oxidation state of chromium and is potentially carcinogenic; therefore, it must be removed from the industrial effluent pipe before being discharged. The presents work focus on the fabrication of biochar from coconut husk and using for removing of chromium hexanvalent from aquatic environment. The Batchwise study and a chromatographic operation were used to exame the chromium(VI) reduction/adsorption performance. The typical results indicated that the removal of chromium(VI) was achieved in acidic region via adsorption and reduction processes. The kinetic study followed pseudo-second-order model (R2 ≈ 1.0), the results revealed that biochar at 800oC (BCH-8) system was occurred 6.2 times faster than that of raw coconut husk (BCH-raw). The diffusion-chemisorption kinetic model indicated that the BCH-raw system was only adsorption, but BCH-8 was both adsorption and reduction processes at pH 3.0. The removal of chromium(VI) by biochar based coconut husk was also achieved by chromatographic operation.