PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SHOREA ROBUSTA BARK BASED BIOSORBENT FOR THE REMOVAL OF Cr(VI) IN DRINKING WATER

Abstract

Activated carbons have been used in the removal of heavy metal. High surface area and porosity of activated carbon materials support in the removal of heavy metal ions. In this work, biochar has been synthesized from Shorea robusta bark. Excellent removal efficiency from methylene blue and iodine number can be seen in S. robusta treated with Zinc chloride. Due to the pHzpc of activated carbon and biochar having 6.16 and 4.62, respectively, this sorbent may effectively remove cationic Cr(VI) contaminants from alkaline aqueous solutions. Using the batch adsorption approach, the adsorption of Cr(VI) ions on biochar and chemically modified biochar of S. robusta has been examined in this study. The outcome demonstrates that all the factors that affected the removal of Cr(VI) by adsorption were discovered at pH 2, starting concentration of 50 ppm, equilibrium period of 120 minutes, and adsorbent dose of 50 mg. Kinetic data are presented after the pseudo second order kinetic model. By using FTIR and XRD, sample characteristics was examined. The experimental findings suggest that S. robusta can be used as a low-cost commercial alternative adsorbent to remove Cr(VI) from wastewater