Removal of calcium and magnesium ions by biochar adsorption

• Main Author: Yaw, Hwee Sin
• Other Authors: Liu Yu
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Engineering::Environmental engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163756
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The rapid growth of the economy leads to problems caused by urbanisation, industrialization, and agricultural practices. This includes industrial wastewater being polluted by heavy metals from industries such as oil refining, plumbing, copper polishing and many more. Cations including heavy metals such as copper, lead, zinc, mercury, calcium and magnesium are present in the wastewater which leads to various problems. Some problems include toxicity, fouling and scaling issues during wastewater treatment. Therefore, this study investigated the removal of typical cations such as calcium and magnesium ions by innovative biochar adsorption method. For this purpose, biochar is modified through acidic pre-treatment. Result showed that with the modified biochar, the removal rate and adsorption capacity of biochar improved. This reduces the rate of scaling and fouling. It is expected that this study could open new window for softening wastewater with the aim for mitigating membrane fouling in subsequent RO unit.