Abstract—Adsorption is an effective method to remove heavy metals from wastewater. Alisma Plantago Aquatica was used as an adsorbent to remove Zn(II) from aqueous solution. The equilibrium adsorption were analysed using three isotherm models.The adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second order model. Isotherm studies have been used to determine the thermodynamic parameters of the process. Temperature change in the range 20-50oC affected the adsorption capacity. From enthalpy data revealed that the adsorption is endothermic in nature. IR spectrum analysis suggested the presence of hydroxyl, carboxyl and carbonyl groups which are participating in the adsorption of metal ions. The performance of continuous flow packed bed adsorption systems with the biomass was evaluated by plotting the breakthrough curves. It was observed that the breakthrough was strong function of the flow rates and the height of the packed bed. The zinc removal yield decreased with increasing flow rates and initial zinc concentration. Adam Bohart and Wolborska models were applied to the experimental data from dynamic studies on packed bed and were observed to fit the data well with good correlations. The model parameters including the mass transfer coefficient and kinetic parameter were estimated.
Index Terms—Adsorption, heavy metal, isotherm kinetics, thermodynamic.
E. R. Ushakumary is with the Department of Chemical Engineering, Government Engineering College, Kozhikode, Kerala, India (e-mail: ushashik@rediffmail.com).
G. Madhu is with the Chemical Engineering Group, School of Engineering, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi – 682 022, Kerala, India.
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Cite:E. R. Ushakumary and G. Madhu, "Studies on Zinc (II) Adsorption Using Alisma Plantago Aquatica," Journal of Clean Energy Technologies vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 112-117, 2014.
