Efficiency of zinc ions (II) adsorption using activated carbon from palm kernel shell

Abstract The adsorption of wastewater from various industrial sources is important and one of the dangerous challenges the environment. This study focuses on the investigation of the efficiency of zinc ions adsorption by using activated carbon in synthetic wastewater. Activated carbon was prepared from palm kernel shells that were obtained from Songkhla province, Thailand. Activated carbon was prepared from palm kernel shells containing sodium chloride as a catalyst at the ratio 1:0, 1:1 and 1:2 (w/w), respectively. Activated carbon was calcined at 700 °C for 2 h. Next, it was washed with hot distillate water until pH = 7. After that, it was dried at 105 °C for 24 h. Iodine number was analyzed by using CHNS/O analyzer. The concentration of solution was examined by using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The prepared activated carbon was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray fluorescence spectrophotometer (XRF), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). For the pure activated carbon, it was noteworthy that the major components were O (37.25%), N (30.95%) and C (26.54%), whilst a minor content was H (2.23%), C (1.73%) and Si (0.76%). This result was strongly consistent with the XRF analysis. The ratio of activated carbon to sodium chloride 1:2 (w/w) exhibited the highest iodine number (180.95±10.82 mg/g). The factors of adsorption including initial concentration (20-150 ppm) and adsorption time (2-10 h.) The result showed that the optimum conditions of adsorption containing concentration were 65 ppm and adsorption time was 10 h. The efficiency of adsorption was 69.73 %.