Removal of Zinc (Zn) and Lead (Pb) in aqueous solution using the activated carbon adsorption column system

Abstract

Water is one of the resources of great importance for human life and the development of multiple human activities makes it even more so, however, but as we see the water suffers various alterations. Water pollution in Peru is caused by mining activities, factories, domestic, etc., being this a problem of great relevance that requires much attention. An alternative solution is the adsorption of heavy metals with the use of activated carbons; adsorption is a very low cost technology and is eco-friendly with the environment, there are several ways to obtain activated carbons, one of them is from organic material with a high percentage of carbon and its activation is given in different ways, in the chemical case it can be through phosphoric acid (H3PO4), sodium hydroxide (KOH) or zinc chloride (ZnCl2) and in a physical way there are the water method (H2O(v)), carbon dioxide (CO2) or oxygen (O2), whichever method you choose you will have porous activated carbon that have various applications, among these is the ability to absorb heavy metals. The present investigation was carried out in the water quality laboratory of the Universidad Nacional Agraria de la Selva, whose general objective is to determine the efficiency of the removal of heavy metals in Zinc (Zn) and/or Lead (Pb) in an aqueous solution through the system of adsorption columns with activated carbon, where we worked with a flow rate of 12.5 mL/s, with a height of 60 cm, cross-sectional area of 86.59 cm2. Therefore, 10.478 mL of 68.5% HNO3 is needed to prepare 1 liter of 1% nitric acid solution. It is concluded that the efficiency of the system increases when the adsorbent has more contact with the wastewater, in a time of 100 minutes the efficiency is 51.5% and 58% in the removal of Pb and Zn respectively.