Comparative Studies on the Efficacy of Biosorbents for Nickel (II) Removal from Electroplating Effluent

摘要

Nickel entering the human body may be the potential cause for asthma, nausea, urticaria, dermatitis, cancer, pneumonia, cerebral hemorrhage, insomnia, and carcinoma of lungs. Dissolved nickel may form complex components with various ligands and bind to organic material. In human beings, nickel affects the T cell system and suppresses the activity of natural killer cells (WHO, 1989). In order to avoid these problems, it is essential that industries treat their effluent to reduce the Ni (II) concentration to acceptable level. The aim of this research venture is to exploit the biosorptive potential of the selected biosorbents for the removal of nickel (II) ions. Various parameters like pH, flow rate, contact time, amount of biosorbent, and agitation speed were optimized for an effective treatment technology. Column and batch studies with the three biosorbents, i.e., saw dust, peanut, and corncob, were investigated after optimizing the