Open Access

Evaluation of Sustainable and Renewable Agro-Waste Adsorbent for the Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from Wastewater

L. Vidhya, vidhuram236@gmail.com
Department of Chemistry, Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, TN, India S. J. Pradeeba, Department of Chemistry, Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, TN, India B. Jeyagowri, Department of Chemistry, Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, TN, India K. Sivakumar, Department of Physics, Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, TN, India V. Nirmala Devi Department of Chemistry, Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, TN, India

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Abstract

The present research work investigates the adsorption capacity of chromium ions from wastewater by KOH-activated agro-waste Citrus limetta (sweet lime) peel biochar (CLPBC). This paper reports the effects of different parameters like dosage, initial concentration, and pH of the agro-waste adsorbent using KOH-activated Citrus limetta peel biochar. The results revealed that the sweet-lime peel biochar removed more than 99.8 % Cr (VI) at a concentration of 100 ppm, pH 7, and the time interval between 0 and 150 min. The kinetics of the Cr (VI) adsorption on Citrus limetta peel biochar followed the second order. The data on adsorption befittingly matched the Langmuir isotherm. Additionally, physical structural investigations such as FT-IR, SEM, EDAX, and TGA abundantly demonstrated the same, revealing distinct phases with greater numbers of pores or adsorption sites. Higher sorption capacity indicates that KOH-activated Citrus limetta peel biochar can be effectively and economically used for the treatment of Cr (VI) ion adsorption from industrial effluents.

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Reference

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