Mercury (II) removal from water by coconut shell based activated carbon: batch and column studies

This study was undertaken to investigate adsorption behavior of Hg (II) from aqueous systems on activated carbon in static and dynamic mode by varying initial Hg (II) concentration, adsorbent dose and pH. Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm were applied to model the adsorption data. Removal of mercury obeyed the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models. The extent of removal of Hg (II) was found to be dependent on sorbent dose, pH and initial Hg (II) concentration. Mercury uptake increased from 72 to 100 percent with increasing pH from 2 to 10. A set of desorption studies was also performed for the metal ions with the aim of investigating the mechanism involved. Moreover, the competing effects of various ions like Pb (II) and Cu (II) is also described. The column capacity for a column diameter of 20 mm, bed height of 0.4 m, hydraulic loading rate of 7.5 m3 h(-1) m(-2) and a feed concentration of 3 mg l(-1) were found to be 3.02 mg g(-1). Breakthrough curves were plotted for the adsorption of mercury on the adsorbent using continuous-flow column operation by varying different operating parameters like hydraulic loading rate (3-10.5 m3 h(-1) m(-2)), bed height (0.3-0.5 m), and feed concentrations (2-6 mg l(-1)). The aim was to assess the effect of bed height, hydraulic loading rate and initial feed concentration on breakthrough time and adsorption capacity, which helped in ascertaining the practical applicability of the adsorbent. At the end an attempt has been made to develop empirical relationship from the data generated from column studies for designing the adsorption column, based on the Bohart-Adams model.