Adsorption application of activated carbon from ripe black locust seed pods for wastewater taken from Ergene River, Turkey

Abstract

Ergene River contains many chemical substances and therefore, it has negative effects on the surrounding ecosystem and local people. To find a solution to these chemical substances and also to determine the adsorption performance of the activated carbon obtained from ripe black locust seed pods, the adsorption of various elements was studied on this activated carbon in Ergene River water sample. In Ergene River water sample, the adsorption performances of Mn, Cr, Ni, Co, Cd, V, Ti, Na, Mg, K, Ca, S, P, B, Pb, Cu, Zn, Sn, and Al on the activated carbon were studied under various operating conditions.For this aim, operating condition effects, such as adsorbent dosage, adsorption temperature, and contact time on these element adsorptions were investigated. 0.4 g activated carbon was found to be adequate for the above 90% removals of most elements from 50 mL Ergene River sample, and it was noticed that adsorption temperature differently affected adsorption performances of each element in the experiments at 25, 35, and 45 degrees C. Also, the adsorption equilibriums of most elements in activated carbon/Ergene River solution were rapidly reached in first 5 min, but reaching adsorption equilibriums of Co, Sn, Mg, K, and Ca took more times (until 1500 min). Moreover, the desorption study of these elements from the activated carbon adsorbed with chemical substances in Ergene River sample was achieved by using HCl solutions with various concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 M. As a result, the activated carbon obtained from ripe black locust seed pods displayed promising performance for the most elements, bad odour, and colour removals in Ergene River sample.