No abstract

Heavy metals contaminated wastewater deteriorating water quality worldwide. Cr(VI) is one toxic heavy metal that attracts international attention due to its environmental effects. Waste biomass-derived activated carbon is the most widely utilized adsorbent for the remediation of water contamination at a low cost as compared to others techniques. The sustainability and economic utilization of activated carbon depend on the activation process and raw material used for the preparation of the adsorbent. Coconut waste can be utilized as a valuable adsorbent for wastewater treatment. However, their economic utilization is crucial for sustainability. The objective of this work is to synthesize value-added adsorbent from green coconut waste and derived adsorbent utilized for the removal of Cr(VI) from wastewater cost-effectively. Iron oxide and H2SO4-activated coconut husk was fabricated by the co-precipitation method for the removal of Cr(VI) from wastewater. The batch experiment studies using chemically activated coconut husk adsorbent at pH 5 and Cr(VI) removal 85.76% was achieved by using a 0.3g dose and an initial Cr (VI) concentration of 20 ppm in 60 min. The equilibrium Cr(VI) binding on the adsorbent was well explained using Langmuir isotherm (R2 = 0.987), The maximum adsorption capacity of the coconut husk-modified adsorbent is 17.09 g/mg. The regeneration study indicated that the adsorption of Cr(VI) onto synthesized adsorbent was a reversible process. Overall results indicated those synthesized adsorbents are efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly and could be potentially applied for removing toxic Cr (VI) from wastewater.