Treatment of Effluent Wastewater From Petrochemical Using Adsorbent from Waste Sugarcane Bagasse

Wastewater is an environmental problem. The cost of treating wastewater is expensive. Identification of cheap and locally available materials will reduce the burden of wastewater treatment. Sugarcane bagasse is an agricultural wastes and adsorbent from it has been used in this research project. The adsorbent produced and the petrochemical wastewater samples were first characterized. The petrochemical effluent wastewater contains Fe, Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn. The adsorption study was done by batch experiments. The rate of adsorptions of the metal increased with increasing contact time and adsorbent dosage. The percentage removal of the metal ions followed progressively in the order Fe ˃ Ni˃ Cu˃ Pb˃ Zn˃ Cd. The equilibrium data obtained from the effect of temperature at300C, 600C, and 900C respectively were used to plot Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The separation factors, Rl calculated through Langmuir isotherm model confirmed favourable adsorption corresponds to fast kinetics obeying pseudo-second order type. The adsorption process fitted well for Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The adsorbent was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to obtain the pore and fibre Histogram. The Fourier – Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra provided insight on the functional groups present on the surface of the sugarcane bagasse adsorbent as OH (alcohols), OH (acids) and C=O (carbonyl). The adsorbent proved effective in removing heavy metal ions from the wastewater through adsorption .The values of separation factor Rl are similar to those typical of adsorbents from literature.