A Study of Heavy Metals Adsorption by Natural & Low-Cost Adsorbents
A Study of Heavy Metals Adsorption by Natural & Low-Cost Adsorbents
A Study of Heavy Metals Adsorption by Natural & Low-Cost Adsorbents
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
SUPERVISOR
Dr. Muhammad Umar Farooq
By
Syed Muhammad Sibtain (2015-MS-EN-03)
FULL TIME
DATE OF REGISTERATION
January 2015
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Problem statement......................................................................................................3
Objective.....................................................................................................................4
Literature review..........................................................................................................4
Experimental setup...............................................................................................6
4.2
Experimentation....................................................................................................6
4.3
Method of analysis...............................................................................................7
Work schedule............................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................8
Problem statement
mercuric chloride, cadmium chloride), and cancer (e.g. arsenic, hexavalent chromium).
Humans are often exposed to heavy metals in various waysmainly through the
inhalation of metals in the workplace or polluted neighborhoods, or through the
ingestion of food (particularly seafood) that contains high levels of heavy metals or paint
chips that contain lead (Jarup,2003).It is therefore essential to remove heavy metals
rom industrial wastewaters and drinking water.
Several technologies have been used to treat metal containing aqueous solution, for the
last few decades (Wang et al., 2004). These include membrane process (reverse
osmosis), precipitation and clarification techniques, activated carbon process and ion
exchange process. All of which having a major drawback of being costly to operate and
maintain. On the other hand, adsorption has emerged as a promising technique for
metal removal. The processes can occur at an interface between any two phases, such
as, liquid-liquid, gas-liquid, or liquid-solid interfaces (Barakat, 2011).
Plant materials are mainly comprised of cellulose materials that can adsorb heavy metal
cations in aqueous solution. Numerous waste biomass sources are available in nature
in which adsorption properties have been reported e.g. rice husk, saw dust, tea and
coffee waste, orange peel peanut shells, activated carbon, dry tree leaves and barks
(Asma et al., 2005; Ferda and Selen, 2012; Kishore et al., 2008;; Nuria et al., 2010).
This research aims to check the potential of mango, banana and lemon peels as natural
low-cost adosrobents for removal of heavy metals from water. These natural materials
can be easily processed and used for metal removal, and hence can offer an
economical solution to the problem of heavy metal pollution.
Objective
Nasernejad et al., 2005; Johnson et al., 2002; Horsfall et al., 2006) and green
coconut shells are a most appropriate example for the adsorption removal of and
organics (Crisafully et al.,2007). In literatures, studies were conducted using banana
peel for As(III) (Suantak et al., 2012) and watermelon rind for Ni(II) and Co(II)
(Lakshmipathy and sarada, 2013).
Azouaou et al. (2010) studied the effect of various parameters on adsorption
capacity using untreated coffee grounds as adsorbent. They found that the
adsorption process is a function of the adsorbent concentration, pH, metal ion
concentration and temperature.
Mishra and Pate (2009) examined the role of low cost adsorbents on lead and zinc
ions removal from waste water.
Venkateswarlu et al. (2006) carried out investigations on Azadirachta indica (neem)
leaf powder as an adsorbent on chromium removal from aqueous solution. The
results indicated that the adsorption capacity is strongly depends on equilibrium pH.
Waleska et al. (2008) used the untreated coffee husks as adsorbents for the
removal of heavy metal ions such as Cd(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) from aqueous solution.
The results indicated that the highest adsorption capacity occurred at distinct pH
values for each metal ion.
Ashraf et al., 2011 carried out batch adsorption studies using mango biomass for
Pb(II), Zn(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions.
Murugan et al., (2010) investigated the potential of mango leaves powder for
removal of Grey BL dye from aqueous solution. The comparison of adsorption
capacities of guava and mango leaves powder for adsorption of Methylene Blue dye
was studied by Patel and Vashi (2009).
Mango peel waste was evaluated as a new sorbent for adsorption of Cd(II) and
Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution by Iqbal et al., (2008). FTIR analysis revealed that
carboxyl and hydroxyl groups were the principle functional sites taking part in the
adsorption process.
The work aims in checking the removal efficiency of natural adsorbents for heavy
metals. It also intends to check the effect of other parameters for example the
optimization of contact time, pH, biomass dose and initial concentration to achieve
the highest possible treatment.
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Collection of fruit peels from local juice shops and later will be processed in
order to prepare adsorption ready material (powder form).
Preparation of stock solutions of lead, zinc and copper in distilled water from
which required concentrations will be obtained by dilution.
Metal concentrations before and after adsorption, to be determined through
Atomic Adsorption Spectrophotometer.
4.2 EXPERIMENTATION
1) Samples of varying initial metal concentration will be prepared.
2) Adsorption experiments will be carried out by adding dried adsorbent per 100ml
metal solutions.
3) Samples will be shaken in a temperature controlled incubator shaker at 30 oC with
200 rpm speed. After 2 hours the samples will filtered and analyzed using Atomic
Adsorption Spectrophotometer.
4) Same metal concentration analysis will be conducted by varying the controlling
factors such as pH, temperature, initial metal concentration and biomass dose.
WORK SCHEDULE
May
Jun.
Jul.
Nov.
Dec.
Preparation of Thesis
Thesis Review by Supervisor
Incorporation of Comments
Submission of Final Thesis
7
References
1) Jadhav, M. V. and Y. S. Mahajan (2013). "Investigation of the performance of
chitosan as a coagulant for flocculation of local clay suspensions of different
turbidities." KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering 17(2): 328-334.
2) Jarup.L (2003) Hazards of heavy metal contamination British medical bulletin,
Vol. 68, pp. 167-182.
3) Wang.L.K,Hung.Y.T and Shammas.N.K (2004) Physicochemical Treatment
Processes Hamana Press, New Jersey, Vol. 3, pp. 141-198.
4) Barakat. M.A (2011) New trends in removing heavy metals from industrial
wastewater Arabian Journal Chemistry, Vol. 4, pp. 361-377.
5) Asma.S, Muhammed.I, and Akhtar.M.W (2005) Removal and recovery of lead(II)
from single and multimetal (Cd,Cu,Ni,Zn) solutions by crop milling waste (black
gram husk),. Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol. B117,pp. 65-73.
6) Ferda.G and Selen.S.D (2012) Adsorption study on orange peel: Removal of
Ni(II) ions from aqueous solution African Journal of Biotechnology, Vol.11,
pp.1250-1258.
7) Kishore.K.K,Xiaoguang.M,Christodoulatos.C and Veera.M.B (2008) Biosorption
mechanism of nine different heavy metals onto biomatrix from rice husk Journal
of Hazardous Materials, Vol. 53, pp.1222-1234.
8) Nuria.M,Cesar.V,Ignasi.C,Maria.M and Antonio.F (2010) Cadmium and lead
Removal from Aqueous Solution by Grape Stalk Wastes: Modeling of a Fixed
Bed Column Journal of Chemical Engineering Data, Vol.55, pp. 3548-3554.
9) Spearot.R.M and Peck.J.R (1984) Recovery process for complexed copper
bearing rinse waters Environmental Progress, Vol.3, pp. 124-129.
10)Peters.R.W,Young.K and Bhattacharya.D (1985) Evaluation of recent treatment
techniques for removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewaters AICHE
Symposium,Vol. 81, pp. 1605-1703.
11) Brierley.J.A and Goyak.G.M (1986) A new wastewater treatment and metal
recovery technology Fundamental and Applied Biohydromettallurgy, pp. 291-303.
12)Aderhold.D,Williams.C.J and Edyvean.R.G.J (1966) Removal of heavy metal
ions by seaweeds and their derivatives Bioresource Technology, Vol. 58, pp.1-6.
13)Fornwalt.H.J and Hutchins.R.A (1966) Purifying liquids with activated carbon
Chemical Engineering Journal, Vol.73, pp. 179-184.
14)Ayhan.D (2008) Heavy metal adsorption onto agro-based waste materials: A
review Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol.157, pp. 220-229.
14 Signature of Supervisor
Student
Signature of
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Dated:_____________
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Director
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Institute of Environmental
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UET, Lahore.