Preparation and Characterization of Granular Activated Carbon from Rice Husk for the Treatment of Textile Effluent

Abstract

Importance of activated carbon for utilization in treatment of liquids especially water and wastewater has been increasing due to its high adsorption capacity of different impurities. In this study an attempt has been undertaken to produce activated carbon from rice husk applying simple technology and to apply them for the treatment of textile wastewater. In this study production, characterization and application for effluent treatment is observed. For production three low-cost furnaces are designed and fabricated in the workshop of this university and named as Type A. B & C. Thermal activation is adopted for the production of carbon. Different treatment options are applied to treat the two types of effluent collected from textile industry.Different selected tests are done in the laboratory for the characterization of activated carbon.Physical properties of the activated carbon like ash content, volatile content, moisture content, fixed carbon content are performed. Specific characteristics of activated carbon like adsorption study; kinetic study; column study is also performed using different color, dye and reactive dye. Before using the effluent their physical-chemical tests are also done. Several hatch experiments are done in laboratory for the treatment of textile effluents. It is observed from the study that the activated carbons prepared in Type A. B and C furnaces are found 48%. 76% and 35% of total raw material, respectively. The production cost of Type A. B and C furnace are about 500.00 BDT, 40.00 BDT, and 35.00 BDT per kg of activated carbon. respectively. The ash contents of produced activated carbon are 56%. 42% and 58%, respectively and the volatile contents are 4.0%, 7.94% and 6.0%. respectively. The bulk density of the produced activated carbon is 0.38 g/cc, mean pore diameter is 43 A arid the adsorption capacity is 0.96 g/l00g Methvlene blue. The maximum adsorption of color occurred at an optimum temperature of 40°C with the retention time of' 60 minutes. These properties of produced activated carbon are similar to other activated carbon as described in literature.The color adsorption capacity of the produced activated carbon during application in diluted textile effluent is found to be 80.60% whereas for locally available activated carbon, the adsorption capacity is 62.96% for the same time interval. Adsorption studies with activated carbon derived from rice-husk gave comparable better performance than that of industrial grade activated carbon for decolorization of textile effluent which is 75~90% and 12~35%,respectively. The produced activated carbon also reduce 99% color. 67~80 % COD, 20~70% acidity, 50~56% Manganese, 63~87% Phosphate and 50~60 % Chloride from enzyme wash and desizing wash wastewater. Therefore the produced activated carbon can successfully be applied for the treatment of textile effluents especially the color parameter: