Adsorption Study using Water Hyacinth as an Adsorbent

Abstract

Heavy metals are widely used in numerous industries such as paints and pigments, glass production, mining operation, electroplating, battery manufacturing and textile industries. The significant losses of heavy metals occur during the manufacturing processes and these lost heavy metals are discharged in the effluent. As they move from one ecological trophic level to another, metallic species start damaging the ecosystem. They also become difficult to track as they move up in trophic levels. They accumulate in living tissues throughout the food chain. Due to biomagnification, humans receive the maximum impact, since they are at the top of the food chain.Hence heavy metal contamination has been a critical problem. Adsorption of heavy metals is one of the techniques for treatment of waste water containing different types of selected heavy metals. In this study, the adsorbent water hyacinth is investigated as a viable material for removal of heavy metals. The effect of contact time, particle size and adsorbent dosageis studied. The aim of this study is to use water hyacinth as an adsorbent in removing heavy metal content from industrial waste water to see the effect of adsorption. The metal concentrations were determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The adsorbents were pretreated by way of cleaning, washing, sun-drying and then crushing to obtain particles in different size ranges in order to study the effect of different parameters on the adsorption. The main objective of this project is to use cheap and readily available solid waste such as water hyacinth, as adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from the industrial waste water, and to test the effect of contact time, particle size and adsorbent dosage on the extent of adsorption.