Adsorption isotherm and kinetic studies of hexavalent chromium removal from aqueous solution onto bone char

The adsorption of hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)(onto bone char was optimized as a function of pH, initial Cr(VI) concentration, and bone char dosage using aqueous solution in batch tests. The initial Cr(VI) concentrations were varied between 5 and 800 mg/L to investigate equilibrium, kinetics, and the adsorption isotherms. About 100% of Cr(VI) was removed at initial pH of 1.0 with initial Cr(VI) concentration of 10 mg/L, using 2 g of bone char after 2 h. The maximum adsorption capacity of the bone char was 4.8 mg/g for an initial Cr(VI) concentration of 800 mg/L. The adsorption kinetics of Cr(VI) onto bone char followed a second order kinetic model. The adsorption isotherm followed the Langmuir model for Cr(VI) adsorption. In general, bone char demonstrated promising results as an effective adsorbent for removal of Cr(VI) from the aqueous solution. The results from this study could be useful in designing a filtration unit with bone char as the adsorbent in a full-scale water and wastewater treatment plant for the removal of Cr(VI) from contaminated water. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.