The study of plasma-treated organic materials as adsorbents for heavy metal removal

摘要

Wastewater generated from industries such as mining, electroplating, surface finishing, etc, contains heavy metals, which are environmental hazards. Adsorbents produced from waste peanut shell, rice husk, wood sawdust, rubber(tire) and fibre were applied to adsorb heavy metal ions in wastewater. The main advantages of using these organic waste as adsorbents are the high adsorption efficiency and low cost as well as the reuse of organic waste. In addition, non-thermal plasmas were used to modify the surface of organic wastes. In this investigation, it was possible that surface function groups modification could improve higher adsorption efficiency of heavy metals. The samples were processed at different microwave powers and treatment time. The experimental results showed that organic waste materials as adsorbents might have total metals removal were over 70～84%. The plasma-treated adsorbents might upgrade metals removal more over 10～20%. In a word, from the point of recycle and reuse, it is definitely worth using the organic wastes as adsorbents to remove heavy metal ions from solution.