Activated Plantain Peel Biochar As Adsorbent For Removal of Zinc(II) Ions From Aqueous Solution: Equilibrium and Kinetics Studies.

• Main Authors: NWORIE FELIX, Nwabue Ienna, Ikelle Ikelle, Ogah Anselm, Elom Nwabueze, Itumoh Emeka, Oroke Clinton
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Turkish Chemical Society 2018-10-01
• Series: Journal of the Turkish Chemical Society, Section A: Chemistry
• Subjects: biochar; zinc (II) ions; adsorption and kinetic models; plantain peel
• Online Access: http://dergipark.gov.tr/jotcsa/issue/37193/438332

Plantain peel biomass was carbonized, activated, and characterized using BET surface area and XRD. The XRD diffraction indicated crystalline structure with crystallite size of 14.56 nm evaluated through Debye-Scherrer equation. The pore size (cc/g) and pore surface area (m2/g) of the biochar was 8.79 and 16.69 respectively from BET surface area. Various parametric properties such as effect of initial metal ion concentration, pH, and contact time were studied in a batch reaction process. Adsorption of zinc from aqueous solution decreased with an increase of pH and initial concentration. Equilibrium modeling studies suggested that the data fitted mainly to the Langmuir isotherm. Adsorption kinetic data tested using various kinetic models fitted the Bangham’s pore diffusion model implicating pore diffusion as the main rate limiting step. The sorption studies indicated the potential of plantain peel biochar as an effective, efficient and low cost adsorbent for remediating zinc (II) ions contaminated environment.