Journal Article

Adsorption Kinetics of Cr (III) and Pb (II) ions by Chemically Modified Palm Kernel Shell

Musah M., Yerima H., Baba H., Lakan I. I. & Umar M. T

Abstract

The demand for cheap but efficient adsorbent to meet the need for water treatment has been on the increase. This study explores the suitability of palm kernel shell activated carbon prepared using H2PO4 and KOH as activating agents in the adsorption of Cr (III) and Pb (II) ions from wastewater using the batch adsorption method at different interaction periods. Natarajan and Khalaf first order, pseudo firstorder, pseudo second-order and Elovich models were used to study adsorption kinetics. Pseudo second order kinetics was found to give a good fit for the adsorption of Cr (III) and Pb (II) ions with high correlation value (> 0.96) and low SSE (≤ 0.002) for both acid (PSH) and base (KSH) treated activated carbons. These results indicated that palm kernel shell activated carbon could be used for removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions.

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