REMOVAL OF HEAVY METALS FROM SOLUTION BY A NOVEL SWINE MANURE-BASED ACTIVATED CARBON

Pelletized swine manure was pyrolyzed and steam-activated at various activation times (from 15 to 60 min) and water flow rates (1, 3 and 5 ml/min) to produce granular activated carbons. The adsorption behavior of these carbons towards four different metals (Cu2+, Cd2+, Ni2+ and Zn2+) at 5 mM concentrations was measured individually and in competition mode. The ability of the swine manure-based carbons, SMC to adsorb the metal ions was compared with that from carbons made from three traditional precursors, coal, coconut and wood. The activation strategy had an influence on the carbon’s ability to adsorb the metals, both individually and in competition. Activated carbons were most effective at adsorbing copper ions and zinc ions with adsorption values ranging respectively between 66.8 % to 91.8% and 39.7 to 77.0% of total metal ion available. These values were significantly larger than the ones found for coal-, coconut shellsand wood-based carbons, with adsorption values of 0%, 24.9% and 23.0% for copper ion and 7.3%, 6.0% and 14.8% for zinc ion, respectively. Adsorption of each metal ion decreased when all metal ions were present and the highest removal rate observed was obtained for 30 min activation at 3ml/min flow rate, with 54.3%, 18.9% and 18.1% for copper, cadmium and zinc ions, respectively. The kinetics of copper ion adsorption were investigated using four different models: a pseudo first-order, a pseudo second-order, the Elovich model and the intraparticle diffusion model. The intraparticle diffusion and Elovich models were good representations of the adsorption kinetics of copper ion by the swine manure-based carbon, with the Elovich equation giving the best fit for the experimental data. It is believed that the conversion of over abundant and worldwide environmentally-problematic swine manure to activated carbon for heavy metals remediation could represent a novel approach to animal waste utilization.

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