Abstract
This research was carried out to assess the efficiency of modified palm kernel shells in removing heavy metals from industrial wastewater. Palm kernel (PK) shell an abundant waste from palm fruits was modified using polyaspartic acid sodium salt (PASP-Na). The raw PK shells as well as the modified shells were used to remove silver and cadmium from wastewater collected from the image developing section of a printing press. The raw Pk shells removed 8.39% of Cadmium and 88.88% of Silver from the wastewater. However, the modified PK shells showed greater adsorption capacity with 21.54% and 9.8% increase in cadmium and silver adsorption respectively. The effect of reaction conditions; contact time, adsorbent dose, pH, effluent volume and temperature was investigated using an adsorption column. This study showed that chemically modified palm kernel shells can be used to reduce heavy metal concentration in industrial effluents.
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