Chromium adsorption on coir pith charcoal from tannery wastewater

Abstract

Emission of high chrome tanning wastewater is catastrophic for the environment. In this work, the effectiveness of coir pith charcoal is stated for the removal of chromium from tannery wastewater. The charcoal yield from the coir pith was 2.4%. The prepared charcoal was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The efficiency of coir pith charcoal for chromium removal was assessed experimenting with various parameters e.g., charcoal dose, contact time, and relative pH. The content of chromium in the raw wastewater and after treatment at filtrate was 3439.2 mg/L and 14.9 mg/L, individually. In the batch experiment at optimized condition, for 75 mL chrome wastewater at 4 g charcoal dose with 15 min contact time, the chromium removal efficiency was attained 99.6%. The level of chloride (Cl-), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) were significantly reduced by 65.7%, 93.7%, and 95.6%, respectively. The use of coir pith charcoal could be an alternative source for the removal of chromium from chrome containing wastewater.
 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res.56(1), 53-60, 2021

Industrial Water Demand and Wastewater Generation: Challenges for Bangladesh’s Water Industry

“…Most of the research on tannery wastewater treatment in Bangladesh has been on lab scales, with no implementation at pilot or full scale. For instance, chemical coagulation (alum and ferric chloride) and electrocoagulation have been investigated for tannery wastewater. − For removing Cr from tannery wastewater, adsorption with low-cost adsorbents made from clay, coir pith, zeolite, spent tea leaves, and agricultural byproducts has been investigated. − More research should be tailored to addressing the treatment challenges faced by the tannery industry in Bangladesh. For tannery wastewater, along with optimization and improvement of treatment processes, valuable resource reuse and recycling need to be extensively advocated.…”

Emerging applications of green coconut: A promising lignocellulosic biomass

“…The adsorbate (types of auxochrome) and adsorbent selection parameters (such as particle size, surface area, temperature, pH, and contact time) are crucial components of this approach. Coconut can be used for bioremediation of various water pollutants by utilizing its different parts like coir (Hashem et al, 2021), shell (Sarkingobir et al, 2020), husk (Droepenu et al, 2021), sawdust and copra (Lee et al, 2021). Bhatnagar and their team compiled the studies of 10 years (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009) on bio adsorption of metals, dyes, and other contaminants by utilizing coconut waste (Bhatnagar et al, 2010).…”

Disparate activation routes of developing adsorbents from waste biomass: A comparative studies

“…An adsorbent should possess a comprehensive surface area with excellent adsorption capacity to remove pollutants and heavy metals from wastewater (Anirudhan and Sreekumari, 2011). Recently various low-cost adsorbents e.g., coir pith (Hashem et al 2021), eggshell (Elabbas et al 2015), powdered marble (Elabbas et al 2015), spent tea leaves (Nur-E-Alam et al 2018), sugar industrial waste (Fahim et al 2006), Teff husk (Adane and Dessie, 2020), Syzygium cumini bark (Hashem et al 2019), shrimp shells (Fabbricino et al 2013), etc. have been investigated to remove chromium from tannery wastewater. These adsorbents showed identical removal efficiencies as the properties of different adsorbents depend on the individual nature of raw materials and activation procedure (Bansal and Goyal, 2005).…”