Utilization of Solid Waste for Removal of Pollutants

Abstract

Pollutants such as dye and heavy metal are a great threat to the society and hence these pollutants are taken for study. Now-a-days the use of pesticide in agricultural farms and dye at textile industry is increasing day by day and their toxic levels too. The extensive use of these pollutants with mutagenic, carcinogenic and toxic effects causes the increased contamination of water and soil bodies. In the present study, to mitigate the harmful effects of these pollutants the rural strong waste Citrullus vulgaris (water melon) rind, previously utilized as basic raw material for the preparation the activated carbon (AC) that is used for the removal of pollutants. The adsorption characteristics of the pollutants onto the activated carbon produced from watermelon rind was studied. Batch experiments were conducted to remove the adsorbates from synthetic solution using AC sample. Characterization of the AC was done using TGA, SEM and FTIR analysis. Parameters such as the effect of contact time, initial concentration, pH and AC loading on the adsorption capacity of the adsorbents have been studied. Kinetics and isotherm studies were carried out. The data were fitted to the kinetic model such as pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order. The isotherm models such as Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to analyse the equilibrium data