You have no items in your shopping cart.
ABSTRACT
Heavy metals which are considered noteworthy pollutants of the environment are known to be toxic with their accumulation over a period of time causing damage to vital organs in the human body. Adsorption has been shown to be a potentially effective method for the adsorption of heavy metals with the use of activated carbon been the most common method. Plantain is a staple food in many developing countries, especially in Africa. Its’ consumption generates a high quantity of waste (plantain peels) in the environment and so considered as an environmental nuisance. In this study, activated carbon prepared from plantain peel is used to adsorb selected heavy metals such as chromium and lead. Plantain peel which is an agricultural wastes comprising mostly of cellulose materials was carbonized and activated with NaOH. The adsorbent was characterized for selective parameters such as moisture content, bulk density, conductivity, ash content, pH and density and the data obtained were 12.5%, 0.55g/ml, 15.09µS/cm, 43%, 7.5, 1.48g/cm3 respectively. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy characterization of the activated carbon was carried out. The characterization by FTIR showed absorbance peak of alkene, aldehyde, alkyl, acid halides, nitrile and amine functional groups. Batch adsorption was carried out as a function of effect on pH, initial concentration, and adsorbent dosage. The maximum conditions for the adsorption of Pb2+ and Cr6+ onto the activated carbon are 0.5g of the adsorbent dosage and 20.0mg/l of the adsorbate concentration. At the maximum conditions the highest percentage of the metal ions adsorbed were Pb2+ (73.6%) and Cr6+ (62.85%). Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm were utilized to determine best fit model for Lead and chromium respectively using the results obtained. The Langmuir model was most suitable for the adsorption data of both lead and chromium with regression co-efficient R2 being (0.9655) and (0.9153) respectively.
