Effluent treatment from tannery buffing dust

摘要

In an attempt to find a viable alternative destination for leather buffing waste than landfill, researchers at the Cheltech -laboratory, Zaria Nigeria, investigated the adsorption efficiency of activated carbon prepared from leather buffing dust in the treatment of tannery effluent. The optimum pH value at which the effluent was effectively decolourised was established to be pH5.0. At this pH, the minimum carbon dosage and time to effectively remove some heavy metals and decolourise the effluent sample by the activated carbon was determined. The highest percentage decolourisation of the effluent was observed after treatment with 0.6g of activated carbon from leather buffing dust. The minimum period taken to successfully decolourise the effluent was 50 minutes using the determined pH and recorded minimum carbon dosage. Percentage reduction in the concentration of some heavy metals in the effluent was 96.37%, 28.43%, 87.87%, 3.23% and 0.00% for chromium, lead, iron, copper and cadmium, respectively. BOD of the effluent sample was reduced by 84.15% while COD was reduced by 80.63%. In comparative terms, the performance of activated carbon from leather buffing waste can be said to compete closely with that of the reference carbon used in this study. It can, therefore, be recommended for treatment of tannery effluent especially where the effluent is being recycled.