Activated Plantain Peel Biochar As Adsorbent For Sorption of Zinc(II) Ions: Equilibrium and Kinetics Studies.

Abstract

Plantain peel biomass was carbonized, activated, and characterized using BET surface area andXRD. The XRD diffraction indicated crystalline structure with crystallite size of 14.56 nm evaluated throughDebye-Scherrer equation. The pore size (cc/g) and pore surface area (m2/g) of the biochar was 8.79 and 16.69respectively from BET surface area. Various parametric properties such as effect of initial metal ionconcentration, pH, and contact time were studied in a batch reaction process. Adsorption of zinc from aqueoussolution decreased with an increase of pH and initial concentration. Equilibrium modeling studies suggestedthat the data fitted mainly to the Langmuir isotherm. Adsorption kinetic data tested using various kineticmodels fitted the Bangham’s pore diffusion model implicating pore diffusion as the main rate limiting step. Thesorption studies indicated the potential of plantain peel biochar as an effective, efficient and low cost adsorbentfor remediating zinc (II) ions contaminated environment.