COMPARISION STUDY ON LEAD AND ARSENIC REMOVAL USING GROUNDNUT SHELL AND TAMARIND SEED BY ADSORPTION AND NANOSORPTION

Civil Engineering

Toxic heavy metal contamination of industrial wastewater is an important environmental problem. Many industries such as electroplating, pigments, metallurgical processes, and mining and leather industries release various concentrations of heavy metals. Metal ions such as cadmium, nickel, chromium, copper, lead, zinc, manganese and iron are commonly detected in both natural and industrial effluents. An experimental investigation was carried out for the treatment of synthetic solution containing Lead an Arsenic using low cost adsorbents suchas ground nut shells and tamarind seed. This work focuses on the utilisation of activated carbon prepared from groundnut shell and tamarind shell for the removal of lead and arsenic from synthetic solution prepared. A laboratory scale setup was used to remove lead and arsenic from synthetic solution using Cu coated nanoparticle on activated carbon. The effects of temperature, contact time of lead and arsenic on the adsorption process have been investigated separately with respect to activated carbon and Cu nanoparticle coated on activated carbon. SEM and EDX analysis confirmed Cu nanoparticle successfully coated/decorated on activated carbon of size ~0.3-0.5 mm. AAS instrument was used To check the removal efficiencies of activated carbon and nanoparticle from synthetic solution and showed reasonably good potential for reducing heavy metals from synthetic solution.

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