APPLICATION OF CORN COB USING DIFFERENT PRETREATMENT

FOR THE REMOVAL OF CHROMIUM, MANGANESE, AND LEAD IONS

FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTION

Wen-Pei Low1*, Lee Ee Yern 1, Fung-Lung Chang1, Nurharniza Abdul Rahman1

1Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Quantity Surveying, INTI International University Nilai, Negeri
Sembilan Malaysia
wenpei.low@newinti.edu.my

ABSTRACT: Water pollution has been increasing in recent times and Malaysian waters are no
exception. Traces of heavy metals have been found in rivers and water sources from industrial and
agricultural run-off and improper waste disposal. Hence, this study proposes the application of
corn cob with different pre-treatment using vinegar and hydrochloric acid (HCl) to remove the
metal ions (Cr, Mn, and Pb ions) from aqueous solution. The experiment was conducted in a water
filtration apparatus where each heavy metal (Cr, Mn, and Pb) was treated separately using HCl
and vinegar pre-treated corn cob respectively. The samples of metal ions were tested by using
Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES), which was later analysed
and compared by evaluating the adsorption capacity, percentage removal of each metal ions and
adsorption isotherms. For Cr, Mn, and Pb using HCl-treated corn cob, the maximum percentage
removal was 58.75%, 98.68%, and 77.18% respectively. While, the maximum percentage removal
for Cr, Mn, and Pb using vinegar-treated corn cob was 71.50%, 98.00%, and 74.25% respectively.
Furthermore, the equilibrium data showed that this experiment favoured the Freundlich isotherm,
as seen from the R2 values greater than 0.9 for each adsorption experiment. Hence, both of corn
cob pre-treated using HCl and vinegar was proven to be effective in the removal of Cr, Mn, and
Pb ions.

KEYWORDS: heavy metal adsorption, corn cob, pre-treatment, adsorption isotherm