OPTIMIZATION ADSORPTION STUDIES OF NICKEL(II)ION FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER USING PRE-TREATED SUGARCANE BAGASSE
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Nickel (II) ion contamination in the wastewater generated by industry needs effective and sustainable remediation. The work presented optimized Ni(II) ion adsorption onto chemically modified sugarcane bagasse (NaOH only and under three different NaOH:Ca(OH)₂ ratios) through batch experiments, while following Response Surface Methodology (RSM); subsequently modelling the kinetics and studying equilibrium. Experimental batch studies yielded high removal efficiencies- with the NaOH only, and 3:1 NaOH:Ca(OH)₂ ratios achieving 80.357% and 79.040% removal efficiencies respectively. The experimental 3:1 result was very close to the predicted RSM results of 83.5795% - these were both NaOH : Ca(OH)₂ (3:1) at 4g/L contacting for 30 mins. This was reassuring, and supported the robustness of the model, while we can also speculate that if we had adopted the 4g/L dosing with a longer contact time (here we predict 96.9633% for 3:1 NaOH: Ca(OH)₂ at this dosage for 40 mins) we could have seen even higher efficiencies. A simple analysis of the kinetics indicated that pseudo- second order allowed us to best fit the data and therefore suggest we may have experienced chemisorption; while analyzing the data at equilibrium suggested that the Freundlich isotherm provided the best fit for our equilibrium data suggesting that adsorption behavior was heterogeneous. The experimental conditions employed provide a wealth of baseline information regarding the adsorption mechanisms as well as demonstrating the effectiveness of engineering chemical modifications, and fixed processes in terms of degree of process control and predictability in biological water treatment. Chemically treated sugarcane bagasse (and the co-processed forms with Ca(OH)₂) depicted great potential as an efficient and sustainable adsorbent option for removing nickel (II) ions ( Ni2+ ) and this can ultimately contribute to advances in green water purification technologies while also supporting UN SDG 6 and the overall philosophy of 'safe water for all.' Future work should also address evaluation of adsorbent regeneration and re-use, and performance under real-life industrial wastewater scenarios
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