Low Cost Efficient Treatment for Contaminated Water

Manish Vishnu Rahate (1) , Prashant Deshmukh (1) , Pawan Labhasetwar (1) , Shyam Shukla (2) , Vasant Mhaisalkar (3)

1 Water Technology and Management Division
2 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
3 Department of Civil Engineering

Heavy metals pose a risk of contaminating groundwater and surface water sources due to geogenic activities, industries and agricultural sources. The removal of heavy metals e.g., cadmium, lead, and zinc from drinking, industrial and irrigation water at low concentrations is a recurring challenge, especially in developing countries. Biosorption is a relatively new process that has proved to be very promising for removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. The removal of contaminants viz., Cd(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) by rice husk (lignin containing material) was studied in the laboratory. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the influences of various experimental parameters like pH, initial concentration of metal ions, biosorbent dosage and contact time. The selectivity of the process is also studied. The findings show the efficiency of material for the removal these contaminants with a low concentration in the range 1-5 mg/L. The removal efficiency is up to 95%.

Keywords: biosorption; developing countries; heavy metals; low concentration; rice husk

Domains: Environment and Society

Manish Vishnu Rahate, Prashant Deshmukh, Pawan Labhasetwar, Shyam Shukla, Vasant Mhaisalkar. Low Cost Efficient Treatment for Contaminated Water. 13th edition of the World Wide Workshop for Young Environmental Scientists (WWW-YES-2013) - Urban waters: resource or risks?, Jun 2013, Arcueil, France. ⟨hal-00843174⟩