Original Articles: 2011 Vol: 3 Issue: 6
Comparative efficiency of base activated carbon and acid activated carbon for sorption of heavy metals from waste water
Abstract
The performance efficiency of acid treated Asphaltic carbon (H2SO4-AC) and base treated Asphaltic carbon (NaOH-AC) with respect to adsorption of Cu2+ Cr6+ and Pb2+ from waste water was studied. The activated carbon was produced from Asphalt by treatment with H2SO4 and NaOH as activating agents. Batch adsorption equilibrium was used to adsorbed Cu2+ Cr6+ and Pb2+ from waste water using generated carbons (H2SO4-AC and NaOH-AC). The final concentration of these metal ions (equilibrium concentration) were determined using Bulk scientific (model, 205) Atomic Absorption spectrophotometer. The percentage adsorbed was calculated from AAS data. The AAS data was further subjected to Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm for evaluation. The result show that the efficiency of Acid treated Asphaltic carbon (H2SO4-AC) is high than Base treated Asphaltic carbon (NaOH-AC) for removal of Cu2+,Cr6+ and Pb2+ ions from wastewater.