international journal of technology2016Vol. 7pp. 748-754
158
ajayibanji2016biosorbabilityinternational
Abstract
Agricultural waste has increased colossally
with development in agricultural production causing environmental nuisance and
degradation. Utilization of coconut husks,
one of such
type of waste, as a biosorbent for polluted surface water
treatment, was considered in this study. Polluted
surface water was gently passed through two similar columns loaded with 100 and
200 g of coconut husk char respectively. The treated water samples collected after 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150
mins were examined for SO42-, NO3- and
PO43- ions concentration. Removal efficiency for SO42-,
NO3- and PO43- ions on 100 g
coconut husk char after 150 mins detention time were 70, 78 and 91%
respectively. Freundlich isotherm model gave a better description of the data
(R2 > 0.96). Sorption data was well described by second order
pseudo kinetics (R2 > 0.85).
An amount of 100 g of the biosorbent has a strong affinity for these types of ion removal in contaminated water. Coconut husk char
as a biosorbent is a panacea to significant
concentrations of polyatomic ions in
polluted surface water.