Adsorption of Cr (VI) metal ion from aqueous solutions on low cost adsorbent

An increase in population initiating rapid industrialization in the world was found to increase the effluents and domestic wastewater into the aquatic ecosystem. Heavy metals are major toxic elements found in industrial wastewaters; they make the water unsuitable for drinking. Conventional methods for the removal of heavy metals from waste waters are often cost prohibitive hence there is a need for cheap methods for effluent treatment. In this study, the potential to remove Cr (VI) from aqueous solutions through adsorption using the low cost adsorbent derived from spirogyra algae was investigated in batch experiments. The effect of pH, temperature, contact time, initial metal ion concentration and adsorbent dose on the adsorption of chromium (VI) by low cost adsorbent was investigated. The langmuir and freundlich isotherm were obtained, as well as pH dependence for chromium (VI) adsorption. The adsorption was found to be 92.5% from the initial Cr (VI) metal ion concentration of 200 mg/L with 1 g/100 ml adsorbent dose.