Scavenging of Nickel(II) from aqueous wastes by Adsorption with Granular Activated Carbon(GAC)

Due to explosive growth of industrial and agricultural activities, there is rise in pollutants in water including heavy metals and toxic elements. In light of increasing pollution load of environment it is imperative to address this problem by different approaches and means. Of the numerous unit processes, evaluated to control pollution, to a degree, adsorption by GAC is one of the best available broad spectrum technologies. Scavenging of a precious metal such as Nickel, present in aqueous systems can be carried out with or without use of carrier such as 8-hydroxyquinoline (Oxine) and its derivatives on various grades of as received activated carbons. The carrier improves uptake of metal ions by GAC. The adsorption process agrees with the Langmuir and Freundlich models and also obeys pseudo-second order kinetics.