Coir Pith Carbon Research Articles

Removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewaters by adsorption onto activated carbon prepared from an agricultural solid waste

Activated carbon was prepared from coirpith by a chemical activation method and characterized. The adsorption of toxic heavy metals, Hg(II), Pb(II), Cd(II), Ni(II), and Cu(II) was studied using synthetic solutions and was reported elsewhere. In the present work the adsorption of toxic heavy metals from industrial wastewaters onto coirpith carbon was studied. The percent adsorption increased with increase in pH from 2 to 6 and remained constant up to 10. As coirpith is discarded as waste from coir processing industries, the resulting carbon is expected to be an economical product for the removal of toxic heavy metals from industrial wastewaters.

Uptake of mercury (II) from wastewater by activated carbon from an unwanted agricultural solid by-product: coirpith

Adsorption studies of mercury (II) from aqueous solutions on coirpith carbon were investigated under the varying conditions of agitation time, metal ion concentration, adsorbent dose and pH. Adsorption equilibrium reached in 10, 25, 30 and 40min for 10, 20, 30 and 40mgl−1 Hg(II) concentration. Adsorption followed both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The adsorption capacity was 154mgg−1. The percent removal increased with the increase of pH from 2 to 5 and remained constant up to pH11.00. Desorption studies were performed with dilute hydrochloric acid and potassium iodide solutions.

Agricultural solid wastes for the removal of heavy metals: Adsorption of Cu(II) by coirpith carbon

Adsorption studies of Cu(II) from aqueous solutions on carbonized coirpith were carried out under varying conditions of agitation time, metal ion concentration, adsorbent dose, and pH. Adsorption equilibrium was reached in 25 min for 20 – 50 mg/L concentrations of copper(II). Kinetics of adsorption obeyed a first order rate equation. The per cent removal increased from 50 to 90 with the increase of pH from 2.0 to 4.0 and remained constant to pH 10.0 for a Cu(II) concentration of 20 mg/L. Adsorption equilibrium followed both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms.