Impact of Abelmoschus Esculentus Activated Carbon(abe-Ac) for the Phytoremediation of Surface Water “using Batch Experiment Approach”

Nowadays, heavy metals are one of the leading environmental pollutants. This is due to the rapid development of industry and the over-exploitation of natural resources in many countries. Hence, heavy metals in surface water must be removed before discharge because they are toxic even at low concentrations. This report presents a comprehensive review of the application of activated carbon produced from Abelmoschus Esculentus in the phytoremediation of heavy metals (Arsenic and Lead) from surface water due to it wide availability and low cost. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to characterize the ABE-AC and the peaks showed the presence of functional groups such as O - H stretch, aldehyde (C – H), alkynes C ≡ C, aldehyde/ketones C ≡ O, C – O stretch of primary alcohol, C – H stretch and CH2 from the alkenes. The effectiveness of ABE-AC in removing Arsenic and Lead was examined by the batch adsorption method highlighting the factor that influence the adsorption process such a pH, contact time and adsorbent dosage and the optimum for each factor considered as determined to pH of 6, 25mins for the contact time and 0.5g of adsorbent. The effects of the factor were evaluated in term of pH, COD, TS, TDS, TSS, EC, heavy metals and removal efficiency. SP10 had the following parameters (pH, 1.63; COD, 68.25mg/L; DO, 0.210mg/L; Temperature, 26.4; TDS, 6.31 mg/L; TSS, 0.40mg/L; TS, 6.71mg/L; EC, 12.63µS/cm; Pb, 0.00mg/L; As, 0.00mg/L).SP10 gave the best removal efficiency of approximately 100% of Lead ions from the surface water while it was observed that the ABE-AC was tremendously effective on the removal of Arsenic ions from surface water with a removal efficiency of 100%.The batch studies revealed that a pH of 2, a contact period of 125 minutes, and a dosage of 2.5g were the best conditions for Lead removal by ABE-AC while for Arsenic the adsorption capacity was high and it was effective in removing Arsenic ions. With an of 0.91024, the Langmuir adsorption isotherm was determined to be the best model for arsenic adsorption onto ABE-AC. The results showed that Abelmoschus Esculentus activated carbon (ABE-AC) has a high adsorption capacity and is effective at removing Lead ions and Arsenic ions from surface water.