Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from Raw Drinking Water by Zeolite-FeO Composite Supported Carbon: Case Study Citarum River

Abstract

Citarum River plays an important role in various sectors both domestic and economic for residents along the Citarum River Basin. The different source of wastewater from 400 industries disposes their wastewater directly to the Citarum River, which is predominantly dominated by the textile industry. Those industrial activities generate hazardous heavy metals such as Cr(VI) which can degrade the quality of the river. In this research, we will conduct a treatment on series of Cr(VI) containing surface water to meet the drinking standard of raw water. Zeolite-FeO is synthesized from natural zeolite in Sukabumi, and then impregnated with FeO, characterized using XRD and the result shows that iron oxide precisely hematite (α-Fe2O3) successfully impregnated into the zeolite. The Zeolite-FeO then modified with sucrose to give positively charged on the surface by the contribution of carbon. The adsorption process is carried out in batch with artificial waste containing Cr2O72- to obtain the optimum conditions such as the effect of time, pH and initial concentrations. From the adsorption experiment, the result shows the highest efficiency removal is 70,72% at pH 2 for 45 minutes by Zeolite-FeO-Sucrose.