Use of Agricultural Waste for the Removal of Nickel Ions from Aqueous Solutions: Equilibrium and Kinetics Studies

The potential of economically cheaper cellulose containing natural materials like rice husk was assessed for nickel adsorption from aqueous solutions. The effects of pH, contact time, sorbent dose, initial metal ion concentration and temperature on the uptake of nickel were studied in batch process. The removal of nickel was dependent on the physico-chemical characteristics of the adsorbent, adsorbate concentration and other studied process parameters. The sorption data has been correlated with Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radush kevich (D-R) adsorption models. It was found that Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms fitted well to the data. Maximum nickel removal was observed at pH 6.0. The efficiency of rice husk for nickel removal was 51.8% for dilute solutions at 20 g L-1 adsorbent dose. FTIR, SEM and EDAX were recorded before and after adsorption to explore the number and position of the functional groups available for nickel binding on to the studied adsorbent and changes in surface morphology and elemental constitution of the adsorbent. Pseudo-second order model explains the nickel kinetics more effectively. Reusability of the adsorbent was examined by desorption in which HCl eluted 78.93% nickel. The results revealed that nickel is considerably adsorbed on rice husk and it could be and economic method for the removal of nickel from aqueous solutions.

Authors:

• Manjeet Bansal
• Diwan Singh
• V.K.Garg
• Pawan Rose

Keywords:

• Adsorption
• nickel
• SEM
• EDAX.

References:

[1] P. Malakul, K.R. Srinivasan, and H.Y. Wang, "Metal adsorption and
desorption characteristics of surfactant-modified clay complexes", Ind.
Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 37, 1998, pp. 4296-4301.
[2] D. Mohan, and K.P. Singh, "Single and multi-component adsorption of
cadmium and zinc using activated carbon derived from bagasseÔÇöan
agricultural waste", Water Res., Vol. 36, 2002, pp. 2304-2318.
[3] A.K. Meena, G.K. Mishra, P.K. Rai, C. Rajagopal, and P.N. Nagar,
"Removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions using carbon
aerogel as an adsorbent", J. Hazard. Mater., Vol. 122, 2005, pp. 161-
170.
[4] M. Rio, A.V. Parwate, and A.G. Bhole, "Removal of Cr6+ and Ni2+
from aqueous solution using bagasse and fly ash", Waste Manage., Vol.
22, 2002, pp. 821-830.
[5] V.K. Gupta, C.K. Jain, I. Ali, M. Sharma, and V.K. Saini, "Removal of
cadmium and nickel from wastewater using bagasse fly ashÔÇöa sugar
industry waste", J. Colloid Interface Sci., Vol. 271-2, 2003, pp. 321-328.
[6] E. Remoudaki, A. Hatzikioseyian, K. Tsezos, and M. Tsezos, "The
mechanism of metals precipitation by biologically generated alkalinity in
biofilm reactors", Water Res., Vol. 37-6, 2003, pp. 3843-3854.
[7] Y.C. Sharma, G. Prasad, and D.C. Rupainwar, "Removal of Ni(II) from
aqueous solutions by sorption", Int. J. Environ. Studies, Vol. 37, 1991,
pp. 183-191.
[8] G. Yan, and T. Viraraghavan, "Heavy metal removal in a biosorption
column by immobilized M. Rouxii biomass", Bioresour. Technol.,
Vol.78, 2001, pp. 243-249.
[9] B. Volesky, and Z.R. Holan, "Biosorption of heavy metals", Biotechnol.
Progr., Vol. 11, 1995, 235-250.
[10] N.R. Axtell, S.P.K. Sternberg, and K. Claussen, "Lead and nickel
removal using Microspora and Lemna minor", Bioresour. Technol. Vol.
89, 2003, pp. 41-48.
[11] M.E. Argun, and S. Dursun, "Removal of heavy metal ions using
chemically modified adsorbents", J. Int. Environ. Appl. Sci. Vol. 1,
2006, pp. 27-40.
[12] M.E. Argun, S. Dursun, C. Ozdemir, and M. Karatas┬© "Heavy metal
adsorption by oak sawdust: thermodynamics and kinetics", J. Hazard.
Mater., Vol. 141, 2007, pp. 77-85.
[13] G.E. Marquez, M.J.P. Ribeiro, J.M. Ventura, and J.A. Labrincha,
"Removal of nickel from aqueous solutions by clay-based beds", Ceram.
Int., Vol. 30, 2004, pp. 111-119.
[14] E. Alvarez-Ayuso, A. Garcia-Sanchez, and X. Querol, « Purification of
metal electroplating waste waters using zeolites", Water Res. Vol. 37,
2003, pp. 4855-4862.
[15] F.B. Dilek, A. Erbay, and U. Yetis, "Ni(II) biosorption by Polyporous
versicolor", Process Biochem. Vol. 37, 2002, pp. 723-726.
[16] U.K. Garg, M.P. Kaur, V.K. Garg, and D. Sud, "Removal of Nickel (II)
from aqueous solution by adsorption on agricultural waste biomass using
a response surface methodological approach", Biores. Technol., Vol. 99-
5, 2008, pp. 1325-1331.
[17] K.C. Sekher, S. Subramanian, J.M. Modak, and K.A. Natarajan,
"Removal of metal ions using an industrial biomass with reference to
environmental control", Inter. J. Miner. Process Vol. 53, 1998, pp. 107-
120.
[18] J.L. Zhou, and R.J. Kiff, "The uptake of copper from aqueous solution
by immobilized fungal biomass", J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. Vol. 52,
1991, pp. 317-330.
[19] R. Saravanane, T. Sundararajan, and S. Sivamurthyreddy, "Efficiency of
chemically modified low cost adsorbents for the removal of heavy metals
from wastewater: A comparative study", Indian J. Env. Hlth. Vol. 44,
2002, pp. 78-81.
[20] R. Gupta, and H. Mohapatra, "Microbial biomass: An economical
alternative for removal of heavy metals from waste water", Indian J. of
Exp. Biol. Vol. 41, 2003, pp. 945-966.
[21] E.I. El-Shafey, "Behaviour of reduction-sorption of chromium(VI) from
an aqueous solution on a modified sorbent from Rice Husk", Water air
and soil poll. Vol. 163, 2005, pp. 81-102.
[22] K.R. Hall, L.C. Egleton, A. Acrivos, and T. Vemeulen, "Pore and solid
diffusion kinetics in fixed bed adsorption under constant pattern
conditions", Ind. and Engg. Chem. Fund. Vol. 5, 1966, pp. 212-223.
[23] R.E. Treybal, "Mass transfer operations", 3rd edition New York
McGraw Hill. 1980, pp. 447-522.