Adsorption Performance of Packed Bed Column for the removal of Lead (ii) using oil Palm Fibre

The adsorption performance of packed bed column using activated carbon prepared from oil palm fibre (OPF) for the removal of lead (11) from aqueous solution was investigated. The influence of important parameters like inlet ion concentration, flow rate and bed height on the breakthrough curves and adsorption performance was studied. The result indicated that adsorption efficiency increased with increase in the inlet ion concentration and bed height and decreased with increase in flow rate. Increasing the flow rate resulted to a shorter time for saturation. The result revealed that the throughput volume of the aqueous solution increased with increase in bed height, due to the availability of more number of sorption sites. The adsorption kinetics was analyzed using Thomas and Yoon and Nelson kinetic models. The kinetic data were well described by both models. The maximum adsorption capacity, calculated from both models, increased with increase in flow rate and initial ion concentration but decreased with increase in bed height. For Yoon and Nelson model, the rate constant increased with increase in flow rate, initial ion concentration and bed height. The time required for 50% breakthrough decreased with increase in flow rate, bed height and initial ion concentration. The kinetic data correlated well with both models. The comparison of the experimental breakthrough curve to the breakthrough profile obtained from Yoon and Nelson method showed a satisfactory fit for activated carbon derived from oil palm empty fruit bunch.