Facile Synthesis Of Activated Carbon From Natural Bio-Mass “Zea Mays” For Adsorptive Removal Of Hexavalent Chromium (Cr(VI)) From Industrial Waste Water

Sahu D, Tripathi TK, Padhy H, Patnaik A, Panda C and Nahak PK

Published on: 2024-02-29

Abstract

Removal of Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] from wastewater using biochar through adsorption, is commonly acknowledged as a simple, economical, and highly selective method. This study examined in detail the adsorption of hexavalent chromium from waste water by activated carbon (AC) made from biomass Zea mays(Corn cob), a readily available biomass, were used to create the AC in an economical manner. Owing to the distinct multi-layered and honeycomb porous structure created by the activation and delignification processes, the resulting activated carbonised Zea mays has an abundance of oxygen-containing functional groups, increasing meso-pores, and an increased surface area. A thorough investigation was conducted into the adsorption behaviors of wastewater containing Cr(VI) in the range of 100 to 300mg/L on biomass. To support the formation, morphology, structure and suitability the synthesized biomass are examined using FTIR, SEM-EDS, and XRD analytical techniques. The adsorption properties of the biomass were investigated through batch adsorption experiments that varied adsorption factors such as temperature, pH, dose concentration, and contact time with different initial concentrations. The optimal adsorption of hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] obtained was 99.962% with an ideal adsorbent dosage of 40gm/l, pH of 3.0, contact time 50 min, temperature 40oC, maximum initial concentration 300mg/l, which comply with the government of India's discharge standard of 0.1mg/L for hexavalent chromium. Besides the adsorption, the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms were determined to be suited for the task based on their kinetic properties. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms are closely resembled by the absorption data set. The Cr(VI) capture by Zea mays is facilitated by the synergistic contributions of the capillary force, electrostatic attraction, chemical complexation, and reduction action. Therefore, it was found that the biomass Zea mays utilised in this study was an efficient material for treating waste water that contained chromium.