Role of Activated Carbon in Water Treatment

Abstract

Heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, zinc, aluminum, arsenic, nickel, chromium, and cobalt, are the common pollutants present within the environment from various natural and Industrial sources. Synthetic dyes are commonly used for dyeing and printing in a variety of industries. The traditional methods for the removal of heavy metals and dyes from wastewater are chemical precipitation, ion exchange, adsorption, membrane processes, and evaporation which require high capital investment and running costs. Activated carbon prepared from agricultural wastes and its by-products are good alternative sources for adsorption because they are low-cost, renewable sources with high carbon, volatile contents, low ash, and reasonable hardness. The preparation means of activated carbon are physical and chemical methods. The important advantages of chemical activation over physical activation are the process that can be accomplished even at lower temperatures and the yield obtained in chemical activation tends to be greater since burn-off char can be avoided. In this chapter, the removal of heavy metals and dyes, using activated carbon, which was prepared by using agricultural waste, biomass was presented. This helps the researchers to accumulate knowledge.