Chromium (VI) adsorption capacity of mahogany fruit husk activated carbon

• Main Authors: Macalalad, Angelica A., Magoling, Bryan John A.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Subjects: Sewage—Purification—Chromium removal; Carbon, Activated; Activation (Chemistry); Chemistry
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/8126
• Institution: De La Salle University

The use of activated carbon for adsorption of heavy metals in wastewater has been explored and gave a favorable result. Because of wide application of activated carbon in the environment, there is an increasing demand of activated carbon which results to a strong need for sorting out new precursors for its preparation. The Mahogany fruit husk was used to prepare activated carbon by chemical activation using phosphoric acid and thermal activation using furnace. The prepared activated carbon (MFH-AC) was characterized and compared in terms of their functional groups and surface morphology using FTIR spectroscopy, Boehm titration, EDX and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The adsorption equilibrium and kinetics of Cr(VI) on MFH-AC were then examined. The MFH-AC with developed porosity and excellent Cr(VI) removal have been prepared using 39.12% H3PO4 heated at 400.790C for 65.70 min. The Cr(VI) removal of the MFH-AC is on its optimum performance when the concentration of adsorbate is 3.1 ppm and the pH of the solution is 2.96. The surface of the MFH-AC is rich in a variety of surface functional groups among which are the C-O type groups, C-H, nitriles or isocanates, hydroxyl, ketones, aldehydes, lactones, carboxyl or aromatic group. Kinetic and isotherm model analyses the adsorption of Cr (VI) revealed that the experimental data well fitted for the pseudo-second order and Langmuir isotherm. The present study indicates that MFH-AC is an efficient and environment friendly that may be used as promising bio-adsorbent to remove Cr (VI) from wastewater.