Performance comparison of individual adsorbents and mixed adsorbent for the removal of copper (II) from waste water

Performance comparison of individual adsorbents and mixed adsorbent for the removal of copper (II) from waste water

Removal of Cu (II) metal ions from wastewater using borassus flabellifer coir and ragi husk mixed adsorbent is studied in a batch fashion to find out the effect of several process parameters like the agitation time (0-120 min), the mixed adsorbent size (0.1 to 1.0 g in 50 mL solution), concentration of copper ion (20-100 mg/L), temperature (273-323 K) and pH (2-10) as because of copper ions present in water causes severe affect on aquatic life, animals and humans. The Langmuir isotherm for copper adsorption onto mixed adsorbent is proved to be the best fit followed by Freundlich and Tempkin isotherms for the experimental data. The adsorption kinetic models follow the second order. As the equilibrium agitation time is achieved at 60 min, the batch process time for the removal of Cu (II) metal ions from wastewater is less. The thermodynamic parameters such as change in Gibb’s free energy (∆G), enthalpy (∆H) and entropy (∆S) reveals the feasibility, irreversibility, spontaneity and endothermic nature. The results obtained in this study illustrate that mixed adsorbent is expected to be an effective and economically viable adsorbent for copper removal from industrial wastewater whereby the quality of water may be improved.