The Effect of Chemical Treated Okra Waste for Heavy Metal Adsorption from Natural Gas Production Wastewater

Abstract

Nowadays, one of the leading environmental pollutants is heavy metals. Hence, heavy metals in wastewater must be removed before discharge because they are toxic even at low concentrations. This research aims to evaluate the efficiency of okra waste as an adsorbent for heavy metals removal from wastewater in natural gas production. In this study, chemical activation of okra adsorbent was processed to increase the surface area of okra adsorbent for better adsorption, whenever the impregnation of the powdered okra waste was performed using phosphoric acid (H3PO4) as the impregnating agent. The okra powder was impregnated at a rate of 4: 1 (v / m). The FTIR was used to characterize the okra-activated carbon and the peaks showed the presence of functional groups such as Hydroxyl (OH), Amino (N-H), Carboxyl (C=O, C-O-C), C-0 stretching and M-O at 3390.05, 2905.5, 1640-1658, 1050.05 and 650 stretching bands respectively. Furthermore, the batch adsorption experiments were conducted via varying agitation speed, contact time, adsorbent dose and adsorbent particle sizes. The results showed that the maximum removal percent of Cd2+, Cu2+, Pb2­+, Zn 2+, Ag2+ and Ba2+metal ions had been observed to be at an agitation speed of 1000 rpm, contact time of 90 min­, okra adsorbent dose of 0.25 g and particle size of 1.00mm. The experimental findings show that okra wastes from agricultural by-products may be a low-cost adsorbent for future research to remove additional heavy metals owing to their high effectiveness in removing Cd2+, Cu2+, Pb2+, and Zn2+ ions from wastewater.