REMOVAL OF HEAVY METALS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS USING ACTIVATED CARBON

Abstract

A carbon used for the filtration of fresh water was activated using HCl and tested its capacity of heavy metals (Cd, Ni and Pb) removal from aqueous solutions. The initial concentration of heavy metals was 5 mg/L and the adsorption experiments were conducting using different quantity of sorbent (from 2.5 g to 20 g). The equilibrium was touched using the right relation between the sorbent quantity and exposure time. The obtaining activated carbon was successfully applied for adsorptive removal of Cd, Ni and Pb from stock solutions. The degree of decrease of the three metals was in the order of Pb>Cd>Ni.

Keywords

• activated carbon, heavy metals removal, lead, nickel, cadmium