Isotherm and computational fluid dynamics analysis of nickel ion adsorption from aqueous solution using activated carbon

Abstract

This work examines the use of activated carbon to remove nickel ion (Ni2+) from aqueous solution. The impact of several parameters, namely, adsorbent amount, feed flow rate, Ni2+ concentration, temperature, and solution pH on the removal efficiency as well as breakthrough and saturation points were determined. An adsorption technique using a continuous fixed bed tube has been used. The system showed perfect performance, achieving > 99.0% removal of Ni+2 at the optimum conditions which are feed flow rate 5 mL/min, pH = 7.0, initial concentration = 5 mL/L, Temperature = 35 °C, and bed height 12 cm for the first 185 (±5) minutes. This work provides a systematic process description of the elimination of Ni+2 from wastewater using a promising adsorption technique. It also provides careful analysis for the removal efficiency of Ni+2 from wastewater using the breakthrough strategy. Specifying the breakthrough points for this process is an essential step to scale up this process to the industry level. Thus, this investigation can fill this gap in the field. In addition, the results of this work provide new insights into the adsorption mechanism supported by computational fluid dynamics analysis which would help scaling up the system to an industrial level.

Keywords

• Nickel
• Waste treatment
• Breakthrough curve
• Adsorption
• CFD
• Isotherm