Browsing by Author "Mohammed, Fuseini"

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    Laboratory based experiment to decontaminate arsenic and lead laden water using palm kernel and shea nut cakes
    (SEPTEMBER, 2016) Mohammed, Fuseini
    The adsorption efficiencies of Palm Kernel Cake (PKC) and Shea Nut Cake (SNC) in adsorbing arsenic and lead laden water were studied in the laboratory (KNUST and Anglo Gold Ashanti). Sorption capacities of PKC and SNC were tested at varying concentrations of As and Pb and also, at varying masses of the adsorbents. Results of the study show that sorption efficiencies of PKC and SNC depended on the mass of the adsorbent material and as well on the concentration of the metal ions (As and Pb) in solution. With fixed mass of adsorbents, maximum sorption efficiencies of 55.20% and 71.40% were obtained with PKC and SNC respectively at varying concentrations of arsenic solution wherein efficiencies increased with increasing concentration of the ion. However, sorption efficiencies decreased with increasing concentsrations of lead in the contaminated water. Maximum efficiencies of 88.8% and 98% were achieved by PKC and SNC respectively. With varying masses of adsorbents in 100 mg/l solu-tion of arsenic, maximum sorption efficiencies of 62.7% and 74% were achieved with PKC and SNC respectively. Sorption efficiency increased with mass of SNC whereas it decreased with that of PKC. However, sorption efficiency increased with masses of both PKC and SNC when 100 mg/l solution of Pb was prepared. At varying concen-trations of lead solution, only PKC fitted the Lagmuir model (R2= 0.92). Whereas, only SNC fitted the model when its masses were varied for adsorption of As and Pb (R2= 0.91 and R2 = 0.99 respectively). For Freundlich’s isotherm, the following fitted the model. Adsorption by PKC at varying concentrations of As solution (R2 = 0.99), SNC at varying concentration of Pb solution (R2 = 0.92), adsorption of As at varying masses of SNC (R2 = 0.98) and adsorption of Pb at varying masses of SNC (R2 = 0.98). Analysis of variance and percentages were computed using Graphpad prism software. Generally, it can be concluded that both Shea Nut Cake and Palm Kernel Cake are good adsorbents and can be used to effectively clean-up arsenic and lead contaminated water.