Bio-sorption studies of chromium (VI) ions with modified chicken feathers

Abstract

Adsorption is one of the most important methods for cleaning industrial waste effluents. Adsorbents such as activated carbon have been used for a long time to remove heavy metal ions from wastewater. However, such adsorbents' high capital and regeneration costs have motivated researchers to develop new low-cost adsorbents. Biosorption is an emerging technology for the removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater. The feasibility of using alkali-treated (0.5M NaOH) chicken feathers and raw chicken feathers (untreated), a waste from poultry as an absorbent for chromium contaminated wastewater was studied. The batch adsorption tests were shown to be influenced by the concentration of the chromium solution, reaction temperature, solution pH, adsorbent dosage limit, contact time, and pre-treatment with sodium hydroxide. The parameters such as contact time, adsorbent dose, pH, and temperature were optimized and were found to be 3-5 hrs, 2-2.5 gms, pH ±2.0, and temperature 25°C, respectively. T-tests were conducted to determine the significant differences between the batch parameters to establish optimized conditions for adsorbent efficiency.