DEVELOPMENT OF ACTIVATED CARBON FROM PANDANUS SENDERI STEM FOR THE REMOVAL OF Pb2+ AND Ni2+ FROM WASTEWATER

ABSTRACT

The released of hazardous and toxic elements like heavy metals from industries into the hydrosphere like oceans, rivers, lakes are a major concern in environment. Natural agents have high adsorption capacities for divalent metal ions. Pandanus is a natural adsorbent and in comparison  with  others  and  its  availability  in  Nigeria  is  cost  effective.  In  this  study,  the adsorption of heavy metal ions (Pb2+  and Ni2+) from sewage wastewater which might occur by environmental contaminant in polluted underground water was investigated in batch condition. Adsorbents was prepared from pandanus senderi stem plant, carbonized at 600 oC and impregnated with 1M NaOH and 1M H3PO4  at 600 oC in a muffle furnace for 3 hours. The resultant products were analysed using Fourier Transform Infrared and Scanning Electron Microscope Energy Dispersive X-ray, and were also tested to adsorb the heavy metal ions in wastewater at varying pH, dosages, contact time and temperature. The Isotherm, kinetic and thermodynamic studies were carried out on the adsorbents. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrum identified the present of hydroxyl, carbonyl, carbonxyl and lactone. The Scanning Electron Microscope Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX) indicated that phosphoric acid particle activated carbon (H3PO4-PAC) has more carbon content of weight concentration (86.38 g) than sodium hydroxide particle activated carbon (NaOH-PAC) (84.42 g) and control activated carbon (CAC) (82.51 g) and the pandanus senderi stem carbon contain minerals like calcium, silver, potassium, silicon, phosphorus, aluminum, magnesium and sodium. The adsorption capacity and metal removal percentage was computed and recorded at various parameters (pH, contact time, dosage and temperature). In this study, the optimum value of pH to Pb2+ and Ni2+ at 10.197 and 0.4013 mg/g adsorption capacity was 4. The percentage removal for Pb2+ increased from 40 to 58% for pH increase from 2.0 to 4.0 while Ni2+ increase from 14.4 to 16.1 % for pH increase from 2 to 4. Metal removal for dosage was observed from 0.2 to 0.6 g for Pb2+ and decrement was observed in Ni2+. When compared (R2) values, experimental and predicted value, second order fitted the adsorption. By studying the entropy, enthalpy and mean free energy, Thermodynamic proved the adsorption process are spontaneous and endothermic in nature. It was recommended adsorption column study should be carried out and other chemicals order than NaOH and H3PO4 should be used to improve the efficiency. Nevertheless, other heavy metal ions should be used for adsorption studies using pandanus senderi adsorbent.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0       INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

The problem of protecting the environment from pollution and contamination by various types of effluent discharges is now in the focus of attention all over the world. The effluent solids consist of spent grains, waste yeast, and total Suspended Dissolves Particles (TSDP). Since most of these TSDP are non-degradable and toxic, their concentration in industrial effluents must be reduced to acceptable levels before discharging them into the environment. Several methods include; coagulation and flocculation, adsorption using various adsorbents, chemical oxidation, anaerobic decolourization and reverse osmosis. Adsorption is preferred over these processes because of its efficiency. The most widely used adsorbent for this purpose is activated carbon, but commercially available activated carbons are expensive and they may not be economical for wastewater treatment. Therefore, non-conventional low cost adsorbents have been also utilized for TSDP removal (Menkiti et al., 2014).

Activated Carbons (AC) are made from materials rich in carbon through carbonization and an activation process. A porous structure and its adsorption properties can be obtained in carbonaceous materials via either chemical or physical activation. Zinc Chloride (ZnCl2), KOH, and phosphoric (H3PO4) are widely used as chemical activating agents  (Shamsuddin et al., 2015).

Activated carbon’s ability to remove a large variety of compounds from contaminated waters had led to its increased use in the last thirty years. Designing methods for the production of activated carbon in more economic ways is the need of the hour. A range of low cost, easily available, carbon rich and low ash precursor and sources are thus being explored for the production of activated carbon. (Odubiyi et al., 2012).

Industrial and municipal wastewaters frequently contain heavy metal ions. These heavy metals are considered a serious environmental problem due to their toxicity, long persistence, bio- accumulation and bio-magnifications in food-chain. In fact, heavy metals are toxic to aquatic flora, animals and human beings even at relatively low concentration (Onwu et al., 2014).

Heavy metal are toxic inorganic contaminants that, unlike organic contaminants that can be degraded by microorganisms, must be removed from wastewater before being discharged to the environment. Selection of a treatment process is dependent on the nature of the wastewater and the quality of the effluent desired. The removal of metal ions in industrial effluent using biosorption process has been an area of extensive research because of the presence and accumulation of toxic carcinogenic effect on living species. Some materials investigated for wastewater treatment were cotton, walnut waste, peanut skins, sugar cane wastes and onion skins, coffee grounds, apple waste, wool fibre, bark and other cellulosic materials (Oboh et al., 2009)

Pandanus Senderi originated from Pandanus plant (Screwpine) genus, a tropical plant, known as Pandanus leaves which can be found in the wild, but also widely cultivated area (Mario et al., 2019). It functions as an extra flavor in Southeast Asian cooking and the pleasant smell comes from aroma compound of 2acetyl-1-pyrroline. In general, the genus Pandanus is belonging to the family Pandanaceae which comprises about 700 species and widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions (Fillaeli et al., 2019). The leaves have been used as traditional medicine such as antispasmodic, diuretic, and stimulant properties as reported by Shigeyuki et al. (2016) for many years. The Pandanus Senderi left some residues after cultivation such as their stems.

Although no much work had done with Pandanus plant on activated carbon only on medicinal areas.

In this research, activated carbon was prepared from locally obtained Nigerian agricultural waste, Pandanus Senderi Stem using H3PO4  and NaOH as activating agents. The use of these raw materials in carbon production shows that they are available at low cost, highly available, contain high  carbon  content,  may  be  effective  in  the  removal  of  heavy metals  and  act  as  a  local replacement for existing commercial materials (Sudha et al., 2007).

The report of this work consist of the following; general information about Activated Carbon (AC) and its characteristics that will enable the reader understand the background about AC, an experimental investigation in chemical activation of carbon with Phosphoric acid and Sodium Hydroxide as the chemical reagents and Pandanus stem as the precursor.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Wastewater is a source of environmental pollutants with adverse effect on human and its environment. The problem of solving contaminated water conventionally has been a big loss to the industries.  Many industries are looking and alternative to reduce the cost money spending in conventional treatment. Adsorption with adsorbent is one of options using for the treatment. Currently many industries commonly use different adsorbents for the removal of metal ions. The cost of these adsorbents and problem associated with regeneration of adsorbents had led researchers to find alternate low cost adsorbent. Nowadays, there are numerous commercially available adsorbents which have been used for metal ion removal. Moreover, as the adsorption capacities of various adsorbents are not very large, new modified adsorbents which are more economically available  and  highly effective  are  needed  for  which  extensive  work  is  being conducted. Pandanus is considered as good adsorbent which can be used for the treatment. The added advantage of using Pandanus plant is to obtain a cost effective and efficient adsorbent.

1.3       Aim and Objectives

The aim of this project work is to treat effluent wastewater using activated carbon produced from Pandanus Stem.

The following objectives shall be followed to achieve this aim;

i.      To prepare and characterize activated carbon using Pandanus plant stem via chemical activation process.

ii.      To carry out batch adsorption study by varying (effect of pH, contact time, dosages and temperature).

iii.     Study the adsorption isotherms, kinetics and thermodynamics.

1.4       Justification of the Study

The environment is the most important  asset to man and the development of every nation depends largely on its well-managed environment. It is therefore prudent to protect it from pollution. In right of increasing environmental awareness of industrial companies discharging of wastewater in to the water bodies, understanding and controlling the potential environmental liabilities associated with industrial facilities has become increasingly important.

However, sewage wastewater from the WUPA sewage treatment plants may pollute some of water bodies during discharging if the heavy metals are not properly treated and removed, and they make rivers unsafe. It is imperative to remove this heavy metals properly before discharging them into the geo environment. The study is intended to assist by using Pandanus plant stem as adsorption to remove that heavy metal which has not been used before in WUPA sewage waste water.

1.5       Scope of the Study

In this study, Pandanus senderi stem was used as raw material in preparation of activated carbon. The  experiments  were  carried  out  in  a  batch  muffle  furnace  which  can  be  heat  up  to  a temperature of 600 oC. Sodium hydroxide and phosphoric acid were selected as chemical agents in the impregnation procedure.

Effects of various preparatory conditions including different temperature, contact time, dosages, and pH was studied. The prepared activated carbon was also characterized by using FTIR and SEM to determine the physical characteristics and surface chemistry of the prepared adsorbent. The different adsorbate was used in the adsorption studies which are methylene blue and iodine adsorption  number  to  determine  the  performances  of  adsorbent.  The  experimental  data  are crucial in determination of the adsorption isotherm of the samples using Langmuir isotherm, Freundlich isotherm model and temkin adsorption isotherm followed by kinetic study. This kinetic study was carried out by using Pseudo-first order, Pseudo-second order and Intra-particle diffusion models. Thermodynamic studies were also done. The validity of each model  was confirmed by judging the correlation coefficient R2

1.6       Significant of Study

One of the used of adsorbent using Pandanus plant is to remove heavy metal ions in sewage wastewater. It is beneficial to our industry because it can improve water quality. When water quality is improved, it is safe for living things especially human being use the water to drinks, bath, and so on. Other than that, there is a lot application of adsorbent using Pandanus plant, such as in gas purification, gold purification, metal extraction, water purification, medicine, air filters in gas masks and filter masks, filters in compressed air and many other applications. But in this study, it is focus in sewage wastewater, as a sample to remove wastewater pollutant. To choose the most suitable and effective characteristics  of adsorbent  from Pandanus senderi plant as wastewater pollutant removal, the size of adsorbent has to be prioritized. The size of adsorbent like Powdered Activated Carbon (1.00 – 1.70 m

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