Chapter – 6

Summary and conclusion

6.1 General

Activated Carbon treatment is one of the latest techniques in wastewater treatment to meet the desired
and required quality of the effluent . The commercially available activated carbon is high in cost and
granular activated carbon is not easily available in the market in huge quantity , which restricts the
application of this technique in practice . Batch studies that can be done to evaluate the efficiency of the
adsorbent could not be put in practice . The only way to have this technique applied in the field is column
application. Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) is available plenty in market .But powdered activated
carbon in column treatment is not possible , for the reason that it may clog during the application of
wastewater, Even though the adsorbing capacity of the powdered activated carbon is higher than the
granules due to enormous surface area .Due to the set back in using the powdered activated carbon and
the non availability of granular activated carbon in the market (which is costlier also), investigations
were undertaken to examine whether cheap materials are available locally , hold promise to remove
Heavy metals such as Cadmium , Chromium and Lead from the waste waters. Materials Such as Woods
of Derris indica , Acacia Nilotica , and Hybrid eucalyptus are available in plenty at low cost was
selected. From the Woods of Derris indica , Acacia Nilotica , and Hybrid eucalyptus activated carbons
(500-710 microns) was prepared and the feasibility of this materials to replace the commercial activated
carbon of same size was studied , for removing Cadmium , chromium and Lead from respective synthetic
solutions .

The objective of the present study was to develop an agricultural waste materials based acyivated
carbon and to check the feasibility of employing them for the removal of cadmium , chromium and lead
in place of commercial activated carbon . These woods are collected , shredded , dried and the dried
wooden pieces were put in an iron container , tightly packed and activated in a muffle furnace .The
activated carbon of size 500- 710 microns were sieved and kept separately . The synthetic solutions of
80 mg/L individual metal concentrations were prepared and subsequently used for the whole
experiments.

The experiments were conducted with the above said materials with pH variation and contact time ( of the
solution treated) , the two important engineering parameters encountered in the design of adsorption
system .Column studies were also conducted with the above said materials and commercial carbons

6.2 Conclusion :

The following conclusions were drawn from the present studies on cadmium , chromium and lead
removal efficiency on wood of Derris indica , Acacia nilotica and hybrid eucalyptus

1. For the removal of cadmium , wood of Acacia Nilotica was found be better than Wood of Derris
Indica and Hybrid Eucalyptus with an optimum dosage of 0.4g/150mL and with an optimum
time of 15 minutes
 2. For the removal of chromium , wood of Acacia Nilotica was found be better than Wood of Derris
Indica and Hybrid Eucalyptus with an optimum dosage of 0.4g/150mL and with an optimum
time of 20 minutes

3. For the removal of Lead , wood of Hybrid Eucalyptus was found be better than Wood of Derris
Indica and Acacia Nilotica with an optimum dosage of 0.3g/150mL and with an optimum time of
15 minutes.

4. All the three Activated carbons are capable of removing Cadmium , Chromium and Lead
concentrations up to 80mg/L .

5. Precipitation takes place at pH 1 and 2 for all synthetic solutions.

6. From the isotherm test, it was observed that wood of Derris indica , Acacia nilotica and hybrid
eucalyptus based activated carbons were I conformity with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm .
The constants and other values are tabulated below

7. In the column study , in 2.1 cm and 2.5 cm internal diameter column , 5 cm and 7 cm bed depths
were tried . The efficiencies of wood of Derris indica , Acacia nilotica ,hybrid eucalyptus and
Commercial Activated carbon were tested at a flow rate of 2 mL/ min and the following
conclusions were drawn

 The initial metal removal for all the experiments were found to be 100%

 For the removal of cadmium Acacia Nilotica wood based activated was found to be
better than other three carbons with a maximum volume of 8040 mL in 2.5 cm internal
diameter column

 For the removal of Chromium , wood of hybrid eucalyptus is found good when compared
to others in both diameter columns with a maximum volume of 9630 mL

 For the removal of Lead , wood of hybrid eucalyptus is found good when compared to
others in both diameter columns with a maximum volume of 10860 mL

 The cost of preparing wood of Acacia Nilotica , Derris Indica and Hybrid eucalyptus
based activated carbons individually was Rs. 10 per kg and the cost of commercial
activated carbon was Rs.140 per kg.

6.3 Recommendations for Future Studies:

 In the present study, wood of Acacia Nilotica , Derris Indica and Hybrid eucalyptus based
activated carbons was not subjected to any modifications such as steam treatment and acid
treatment for strong and better activation .This may be tried and efficiencies may be compared
 The wood of Acacia Nilotica , Derris Indica and Hybrid eucalyptus based activated carbons can
also be used to remove Mercury , Zinc, Copper ,Nickel , Arsenic and cobalt
 APPENDIX –I

MATERIAL COST ESTIMATE

Sl.No Quantity Material Rate Per Unit Total

(Rs) / cost(Rs)
Wood

Wood of Acacia Nilotica Collection of Wood of Acacia 10.00 LS 10.00

, Derris Indica and Nilotica , Derris Indica and
Hybrid eucalyptus based Hybrid eucalyptus
activated carbons
(Rs 10/ 10 kg)
( 500- 710 Microns)
Crushing 10.00 - 10.00
10 kg
Labour charge – Sievng and 10.00 - 10.00
Lump Sum Cleaning

1 Unit Heating the Wood of Acacia

Nilotica , Derris Indica and 6.00 Unit 6.00
Hybrid eucalyptus to 170 °C for
1 hour in an Electric oven
(10kg)

Burning the material at 600 °C 6.00 Unit 60.00

10 Units in an electric furnace (10kg)
96.00
Cost for 10 kg

Cost for 1kg = Rs.10.00

2 Commercial Activated After sieving to required size
Carbon (500-710
Tax 130.00 1 Kg 130.00
microns)
8% 10.00
1 kg
Cost per kg

140.00

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