DEVELOPMENT OF NANO-COMPOSITE ADSORBENTS FOR THE REMOVAL OF HEAVY METALS FROM INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS..

Heavy metal pollution of the aquatic environment has negative consequences for living organisms. Agricultural waste was used to create nano-composite adsorbents in this study (i.e. Palm Kernel shell, Coconut shell and Bamboo stem). These agro-wastes were collected, dried individually, then crushed many times to Nano-size. SEM and Zetasizer equipment were used to characterise these adsorbents independently. Adsorbent A, B, C, and D, respectively, were activated with four different activating agents (0.1M H2SO4, 0.1M HCl, 0.1M NaOH, and 0.1M KOH). The effluent from the paint factory was collected at the point of discharge and examined using an AAS machine to discover which heavy metals were present in excess of the permitted limit. Cu = 2.006 mg/L, Pb = 1.634 mg/L, and Ni = 0.785 mg/L were found to be greater than the standard permissible level for three heavy metals. To fulfil the required limit, four adsorbents were utilised to remove the specified heavy metals (Cu, Ni, and Pb) from Paint industry wastewater. In a batch mode, the four Adsorbents were applied and their efficacy evaluated for the removal of copper, nickel, and lead ions from paint wastewater solution. The palm kernel shell had a greater surface area of 1164m2/g, according to the results of the characterization of the three agricultural wastes. Adsorbents A, B, C, and D had their best adsorption capability at pH 5 and 1 g/L dose, with equilibrium adsorption conditions appearing after 60 minutes of agitation at 100 rpm. Initial metal concentrations, pH of solution, adsorbate contact time with adsorbent, adsorbent dosage, and functional groups on adsorbents were all key factors impacting metal affinity by all Adsorbents. The maximal adsorption capacity of Adsorbent A (Cu = 1.607 mg/g, Pb = 0.802 mg/g, and Ni = 0.126 mg/g), Adsorbent B (Cu = 1.550 mg/g, Pb = 0.752 mg/g, and Ni = 0.105 mg/g), Adsorbent C (Cu = 1.013 mg/g, Pb = 0.512 mg/g, and Ni = 0.069 mg/g), and Adsorbent D (Cu Freundlich's model was shown to be less accurate in forecasting the adsorption process than Langmuir's model. Please see the link :- https://www.ikprress.org/index.php/JACSI/article/view/4360