Removal of Chlorine from Portable Water using Activated Carbon of Tiger Nut Chaff

Abstract

Activated carbon is an economical and effective adsorbent for the purification of
contaminated water in water treatment processes amongst other wide range
applications in industrial practices. The aim of this research work is to produce,
characterize and determine the adsorptive efficiency of activated carbon from
tiger nut chaff as a good adsorbent for the removal of chlorine from potable water.
The tiger nut chaff was carbonized and activated with tetraoxosulphate (vi) acid
to widen the pores of the tiger nut chaff. The carbonized tiger nut chaff was
examined by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction
spectroscopy (XRD) before and after adsorption. The activated carbon was used
as adsorbent for the removal of chlorine from portable water via batch adsorption
process. The experiment utilized the Central Composite Design of the Design
Expert software in the analysis of experimental data from the adsorption process.
The variables affecting the adsorption process are contact time and adsorbent
dosage. Results obtained from the research shows that an increase in contact time
and adsorbent dosage resulted in an increase in the removal efficiency.
Experimental data were subjected to optimization with the aim of improving the
adsorptive removal of chlorine by targeting the process parameters to the desired
levels and it was described by 3D plot. Results from SEM graphs of the activated
carbon shows that the adsorbent has rough texture with heterogeneous surface
and a variety of randomly distributed pore sizes. Results from XRD graphs shows
that sharp peaks were observed at 0KeV and 4.00KeV confirming the presence of
carbon and oxygen by interacting with other functional groups. Conclusively, high
percentage of chlorine was adsorbed on the microspores of the carbon structure
which shows that tiger nut chaff activated carbon is a very good source of AC for
adsorption of residual chlorine.