Removal of Methyl Red using Chemical Impregnated Activated Carbon Prepared from Parkia speciosa Pod (Petai) as a Potential Adsorbent

Abstract

Textile industry is one of the major contributors either in terms of employment or economies.This industry has provided variety of daily necessity such as sources of yarn and clothing.Extensively use of dyes in this textile industry has created water pollution. The serious problemhappened when the daily water usage is from the untreated effluents which are discharged directlyinto water bodies. However, the disposed dyes into environment can be treated with adsorbentssuch as activated carbon via adsorption process. In this study, Parkia speciosa (petai) pods werechosen as the raw material from agricultural waste to produce activated carbon. Activated carbonwas prepared from two different chemicals and application of four different carbonization time.Two parameters studied in the experiment are initial dye concentration and contact time. From theresult, 100% of methyl red was removed by the activated carbon impregnated with zinc chloridesolution at 1 hour carbonization time. The optimum time and initial concentration of dye was 30minutes and 10 ppm respectively with the percentage removal of 100%. Thus, this result couldcontribute some knowledge on the use of alternative adsorbent from agricultural wasteimpregnation with specified chemicals in treating textile industrial wastewater.