Removal of dye and heavy metals from industrial wastewater by activated charcoal-banana rachis cellulose nanocrystal composites filter

ABSTRACT

Heavy metal contamination in wastewater has been an issue for the environment and human health nowadays. If these wastewaters are exposed directly to the environment, it will be hazardous for the environment and personal health. So, it is very necessary to treat these ground and surface wastewater before exposing into environment. For this, an effective technique were developed which removed heavy metals from wastewater easily, economically and effectively. The cellulose nano-crystals (CNC) were isolated from banana rachis fibres by a series of chemical treatments as well as 50% H₂SO₄ hydrolysis successively. On the other hand, raw Indonesian type’s bituminous coal was collected from Noapara industrial area, Jashore, Khulna and was pyrolysed at 700°C, activated by 2M HCl at 700°C and also carbonised at 500°C followed by activation with 30% H₃PO₄ acid. In this process, adsorbent of modified charcoal-CNC composites was used for the removal of methyl orange dye and five heavy metals, such as Ni(II), Pb(II), Cr(III), Cd(II) and Co(II)), from wastewater and the uptake capacity, selectivity and removal efficiency were also discussed. The filtering efficiency of wastewater purifications were characterised by FTIR, X-RD, TGA, SEM analysis. Finally, wastewater solution and the filtrates solutions were characterised by UV-Vis, and AAS techniques.

KEYWORDS:

• Banana rachis fibres
• cellulose nano-crystal (CNC)
• activated charcoal (AC)
• methyl orange dye
• heavy metals

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank chairman Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Islamic University, Kushtia, Bangladesh for his guidance and valuable suggestions during research work and for being always scholastic supportive, kind and understanding. I also wish to express my deepest sense of gratitude and indebtedness to all the teachers and staffs of my department, and special thanks to the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh for the grant (Reference No: Ref. G.O. 39.00.0000.009.14.006.19/EAS-13/436; Date: 16/01/2019) to carry out the research work as financial support in the Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Islamic University, Kushtia, Bangladesh.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.