Adsorption & kinetic studies on removal of chromium from waste water using tea waste as biosorbent

Abstract

Water pollution is a serious problem in the present day due to the increasing industrial and domestic operations. As water resources are scarce, it is necessary to treat wastewater and reserve it for utilization. The presence of heavy metals, such as mercury, nickel, lead, and chromium in wastewater causes severe chronic disorders in living beings. Several physical and chemical processes are available to reduce heavy metals, with adsorption being a less expensive option. Adsorbents such as activated carbon, sawdust, silica gel, zeolites, tree waste, and tea waste can be used in the adsorption process. In this study, tea waste was used as an adsorbent to remove chromium (VI) from industrial wastewater. The effects of various adsorption parameters on the removal efficiency were studied by varying these parameters to different values. The adsorption isotherms were fitted to experimental data to clearly describe the adsorption process. Based on the study of the kinetics of the process, it was found that first-order kinetics favor the adsorption process. This research concludes that tea waste can be a good choice as a biosorbent for removing heavy metals.