Efficiently Removal of Copper and Cadmium from Wastewater using Activated Carbon Produced from Moringa oleifera Bark

Abstract

Moringa oleifera is a multipurpose tree. The main aim of this study was to use the Moringa oleifera bark with low doses as an adsorbent for the maximum removal of copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd) from wastewater. There are some vital parameters which influence adsorption process such as contact time, adsorbent dose, initial concentration and pH were investigated. The activated carbon of Moringa oleifera bark with surface area of 439.2309m2/g and pore volume of 0.189245cm3/g was achieved at 700 °C and used (10%) zinc chloride and (0.5M) sulfuric acid as an activating agent to char ratio (5:1). The copper (Cu) was fully eliminated (100%) from aqueous solution within 10 min while cadmium (Cd) also was significantly removed using 0.25gm/L of adsorbents. The Freundlich isotherm, pseudosecond order kinetic equations were well fitted with a correlation coefficient of (0.993 and 1) for copper and (0.953 and 0.999) for cadmium respectively. We observed that at pH 11, adsorbents showed maximum adsorption capacity. Therefore, it can be used as a potential, eco-friendly non-toxic, cost effective application for wastewater treatment. Finally, this works also focused regeneration of adsorbents using solvents for further highest reuse of it. Keywords— Moringa oleifera bark; Activated carbon; Adsorption; Heavy metal; Wastewater treatment