Palm Kernel Shell as an effective adsorbent for the treatment of heavy metal contaminated water

Heavy metal contamination in water causes severe adverse effects on human health. Millions of tons of kernel shell are produced as waste from oil palm plantation every year. In this study, palm oil kernel shell (PKS), an agricultural waste is utilized as effective adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals, namely; Cr⁶⁺, Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Zn²⁺ from water. Different parameters of adsorptions; solution pH, adsorbent dosage, metal ions concentration and contact time were optimized. The PKS was found to be effective in the adsorption of heavy metal ions Cr⁶⁺, Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Zn²⁺ from water with percentage removal of 98.92%, 99.01%, 84.23% and 83.45%, respectively. The adsorption capacities for Cr⁶⁺, Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Zn²⁺ were found to be 49.65 mg/g, 43.12 mg/g, 49.62 mg/g and 41.72 mg/g respectively. Kinetics of adsorption process were determined for each metal ion using different kinetic models like the pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and parabolic diffusion models. For each metal ion the pseudo-second order model fitted well with correlation coefficient, R² = 0.999. Different isotherm models, namely Freundlich and Langmuir were applied for the determination of adsorption interaction between metal ions and PKS. Adsorption capacity was also determined for each of the metal ions. PKS was found to be very effective adsorbent for the treatment of heavy metal contaminated water and short time of two hours is required for maximum adsorption. This is a comprehensive study almost all the parameters of adsorptions were studied in detail. This is a cost effective and greener approach to utilize the agricultural waste without any chemical treatment, making it user friendly adsorbent.