Removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewaters by adsorption onto activated carbon prepared from an agricultural solid waste

Activated carbon was prepared from coirpith by a chemical activation method and characterized. The adsorption of toxic heavy metals, Hg(II), Pb(II), C d(II), Ni(II), and Cu(II) was studied using synthetic solutions and was rep orted elsewhere. In the present work the adsorption of toxic heavy metals f rom industrial wastewaters onto coirpith carbon was studied. The percent ad sorption increased with increase in pH from 2 to 6 and remained constant up to 10. As coirpith is discarded as waste from coir processing industries, the resulting carbon is expected to be an economical product for the remova l of toxic heavy metals from industrial wastewaters. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.