Removal of chromium(VI) from wastewater using citric acid modified sugarcane bagasse

Abstract

Toxic metals have been excessively released into the environment due to rapid industrialization and have created a major global concern. Cadmium, zinc, copper, nickel, lead, mercury and chromium are often detected in industrial wastewaters. Various methods are available in literature although some of them facing difficulties to be applied. The present study, bagasse from sugarcane industry was used to remove chromium(VI) ions from wastewater. This study presents the adsorption behavior of hexavalent chromium from wastewater using low cost adsorbent modified sugarcane bagasse with citric acid (SCB). The effect of the initial concentration of chromium(VI), biosorbent dosage, temperature, contact time, and pH were studied. It was found that maximum % removal of chromium(VI) is obtained 92.19 % at pH 1.2 and contact time 40 min. The removal is decreased with increase in concentration and also pH. The maximum biosorption capacities qe of chromium(VI) ions by SCB was 13.5 mg g-1. This work proved that treated bagasse can be used as an efficient adsorbent material for removal of heavy metals from wastewater such as chromium(VI).