Comparison of Active Carbon, Sawdust, Almond Shell and Hazelnut Shell Absorbent in Removal of Nickel from Aqueous Environment

The most important environmental pollutants are heavy metals in industrial wastewater effluents. Nickel is one of the toxic heavy metals which its high concentration causes skin allergy, heart disease and various cancers. So removal of this element from industrial effluent is of prime concern and necessary. The main purpose of this study is to compare kinetics and isotherms of nickel uptake by activated carbon (AC), sawdust (SD), hazelnut shell (SH) and almond shells (AH). Adsorbents are initially prepared to remove nickel from solutions with concentrations 2.5 to 125 mg/l. pH test results showed that maximum absorption using AC, SH, SD and AH obtained at pH 6, 6, 6 and 7 respectively. Kinetics experiments showed that maximum absorption equilibrium time at concentration of 5 mg/l of AC, SH, SD and AH occur at 60, 75, 120 and 150 minutes respectively. Kinetic models fitting results showed that for sawdust and hazelnut shells, Lagergern model and for activated carbon and peanut shell Ho et al. model are suitable and have the lowest error and highest correlation coefficient at 95 percent confidence level. The results also revealed that rate of Nickel adsorption follows this order: AH