Original Articles: 2014 Vol: 6 Issue: 2
Removal of manganese by using activated carbon as biosorbent
Abstract
This investigation handles the adsorption of manganese from aqueous solution using activated carbon. Effects of different parameters such as agitation time, adsorbent size, adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of manganese in aqueous solution, volume, pH of aqueous solution on removal of manganese are determined. From these investigations, one gram of activated carbon powder of 82.5μm size is found to remove 90% of 20 mg/l manganese from 30ml of aqueous solution in 30min. These results indicate that adsorption of manganese is increased with an increase in adsorbent dosage and decrease in adsorbent size. A significant increase in percentage removal of manganese is observed as pH value increased from 4 to 7.28 and percentage removal is marginally increased from 1 to 4. The percentage removal decreased as pH value increased beyond 7.28. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models describe the adsorption data very well indicating favorable adsorption of manganese adsorbent. Freundlich isotherm is relatively more suitable than Langmuir isotherm. Hence based on results obtained it is found that Activated carbon powder is effective in manganese removal and can be appreciably considered as most versatile, economical and feasible adsorbent for removal of manganese from aqueous solutions.