Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the efficiency of metals (Cu, Fe, Pb, Cr and Cd) removal from mixed metal ions solution using coconut husk as adsorbent. The effects of varying contact time, initial metal ion concentration, adsorbent dose and pH on adsorption process of these metals were studied using synthetically prepared wastewater. The percentage removal of metals increased with increasing weight (0.4-1.2 g) in 50 ml of adsorbent dose and the observed trend was: Cr>Cu>Pb>Fe>Cd. The adsorption efficiency increased with increasing initial metal ion concentration (0.3-0.9 mg/l) and the observed trend was: Cr>Cu>Cd>Fe>Pb. Similarly, percentage removal of metal ions increased with increasing pH of the mixed metal ions solution (pH values of 2, 6 and 10). The observed trend of percentage adsorption of metals by varying pH was: Cd>Fe>Cr>Cu>Pb. The effect of contact time on the adsorption efficiency at different time intervals of 20, 40 and 60 min in mixed metal ions solution showed that the removal of tested metals was rapidly achieved during a short interval of 20 min. Generally, the study showed that coconut husk (a waste material) is a viable material for removal of metals from waste water as the percentage adsorbed varies from 95.2-98.8, 91.1-99.3 and 75.0-98.5% for Cd, Cr and Cu, respectively while the percentage removal of Fe and Pb from the waste water varies from 84.9-97.0 and 81.1-98.7%, respectively. Isothermal studies showed that the experimental data are best fitted on Langmuir model.

Key words: Batch adsorption, heavy metals, wastewater, coconut husk.